HISTORY 



BIRMINGHAM 



WILLIAM HUTTON, F.A.S.S 



A NEW EDITION, 

WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS. 



BIRMINGHAM: 

WKIGHTSON AND WEBB, NEW STREET. 
1839. 



•34H1 

18 31 






THE 

HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



NAME. 



T, 



HE word Birmingham is too remote for certain explanation. 
During the last four centuries it has been variously written, Brum- 
wycheham, Bermyngeham, Bromwycham^ Burmyngliam^ Ber- 
myngham, Byrmynghamy and Birmingham ; nay, even so late as 
the seventeenth century it was written Bromicham. Dugdale sup- 
poses the name to have been given by the planter, or owner, in the 
time of the Saxons ; but I suppose it much older than any Saxon 
date : besides, it is not so common for a man to give a name to, as 
to take one from, a place. A man seldom gives his name except 
he is the founder, as Peter sburgh from Peter the Great. 

Towns, as well as every thing in nature, have exceedingly minute 
beginnings, and generally take a name from situation or local cir- 
cumstances. Would the lord of a manor think it an honour to give 
his name to two or three miserable huts ? But if, in a succession 
of ages, these huts swell into opulence, they confer upon the lord 
an honour, a residence, and a name. The terminations of steady 
ham, and hurst, are evidently Saxon, and mean the same thing, a 
home. 

The word, in later ages reduced to a certainty, has undergone 
various mutations ; but the original seems to have been Bromwich ; 
Brom perhaps from broom, a shrub, for the growth of which the 



2 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

soil is extremely favourable ; TFych, a dwelling, or a descent ; this 
exactly corresponds with the declivity from the High-street to 
Digbeth. Two other places in the neighbourhood bear the same 
name, Castle-Bromwich and West-Bromwich, which serves to 
strengthen the opinion.* 

This infant colony, for many centuries after the first buddings of 
existence, perhaps, had no other appellation than that of Bromwych. 
Its centre, for many reasons that might be urged, was the Old 
CrosSjt and its increase, in those early ages, must have been very 



A series of prosperity attending it, its lord might assume its name, 
reside in it, and the particle ham would naturally follow. This very 
probably happened under the Saxon Heptarchy, and the name was 
no other than Brommy chain. 

SITUATION. 

It lies near the centre of the kingdom, in the north-west extre- 
mity of the county of Warwick, in a kind of peninsula, the northern 
part of which is bounded by Hands worth, in the county of Stafford, 
and the southern by King's-Norton, in that of Worcester, It is in 
the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, in the deanery of Arden, and 
in the hundred of Hemlingford. 

Let us perambulate the parish from the bottom of Digbeth, thirty 
yards north of the bridge. We will proceed south-west up the bed 
of the old river, with Deritend^ in the parish of Aston, on our left. 
Before we come to the flood-gates, near Vaughton's Hole, we pass 
by the Longmores, a small part of King's-Norton. Crossing the 
river Rea, we enter the vestiges of a small rivulet, yet visible, 
though the stream has been turned, perhaps, a thousand years, to 
supply the Moat.+ At the top of the first meadow from the river 

* Mr. Hamper appears to differ in opinion with Mr. Hutton on 
the derivation of the word, as the Roman station, Breinenium, was 
on the Icknield-street at this place. 

f Situated near the present Market-place, in tlie Bull-ring. 

X The Moat formerly occupied the space on which Smithfield 
Market stands. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 3 

Rea, we meet the little stream above-mentioned, in the pursuit of 
which we cross the Bromsgrove-road a little east of the first mile- 
stone. Leaving Banner's marl-pit to the left, we proceed up a 
narrow lane, crossing the old Bromsgrove-road, and up to the 
turnpike at the Five- ways, in the road to Hales-Owen. Leaving 
this road also to the left, we proceed down the lane towards Lady- 
wood, cross the Icknield-street, a stone's cast east of the Observa- 
tory, to the north extremity of Rotton Park, which forms an acute 
angle, near the Bear at Smethwick. From the river Rea to this 
point is about three miles, rather west, and nearly in a straight line, 
with Edgbaston on the left. We now bear north-east, about a 
mile, with Smethwick on the left, till v/e meet Shirland-brook, in 
the Dudley-road ; thence to Pig-mill. We now leave Handsworth 
on the left, following the stream through Hockley great pool ; cross 
the Wolverhampton- road, and the Icknield-street at the same time, 
down to Aston-furnace, with that parish on the left. At the bottom 
of W^almer-lane we leave the water, move over the fields, nearly 
in a line to the post by the Peacock upon Gosta-green. We now 
cross the Lichfield-road, down Duke-street, then the Coleshill- 
road at the A. B. house. From thence along the meadows to 
Cooper's mill; up the river to the foot of Deritend-bridge, and then 
turn sharp to the right, keeping the course of a drain in the form of 
a sickle, through John-a-Dean's hole into Digbeth, from whence we 
set out. 

This little journey, nearly of an oval form, is about seven miles. 
The longest diameter from Shirland-brook to Deritend-bridge, is 
about three ; and the widest, from the bottom of Walmer-lane to 
the rivulet, near the mile-stone upon the Bromsgrove-road, more 
than two. 

The superficial contents of the parish are two thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-four acres. Birmingham is by much the smallest 
parish in the neighbourhood ; those of Aston and Sutton are each 
about five times as large, Yardley four, and King's-Norton eight. 
When Alfred, that great master of legislation, parished out his 
kingdom, or rather put the finishing hand to that important work, 
where he met with a town, he allotted a smaller quantity of land, 
because the inhabitants chiefly depended upon commerce ; but where 



4 HISTORY Of BIRMINGHAM. 

there was only a village, he allotted a larger, because they depended 
on agriculture. This observation goes far in proving the antiquity 
of the place, for it is nine hundred years since this division took 
effect. The buildings occupy the south-east part of the parish, 
which, with their appendages, are about eight hundred acres. This 
part being insufficient for the extraordinary increase of the inha- 
bitants, she has of late extended her buildings along the Broms- 
grove-road, near the boundaries of Edgbaston ; and on the other 
side, planted some of her streets in the parish of Aston. Could the 
sagacious Alfred have seen into futurity, he would have augmented 
her borders. 

As no part of the town lies flat, the showers promote both clean- 
liness and health, by removing obstructions. The approach is, on 
every side, by ascent, except that from Hales-Owen, north-west, 
which gives a free access of air, even to the most secret recesses of 
habitation. Thus eminently situated, the sun can exercise his full 
powers of exhalation. 

The foundation upon which this mistress of the arts is erected, is 
one solid mass of dry reddish sand. The vapours that rise from the 
earth are the great promoters of disease ; but here, instead of the 
moisture ascending, to the prejudice of the inhabitant, the contrary 
is evident ; for the water descends through the pores of the sand, so 
that even our very cellars are habitable. Thus peculiarly favoured, 
this happy spot enjoys four of the greatest benefits that can attend hu- 
man existence — water, air, the sun, and a situation free from damps. 

All the past writers upon Birmingham have viewed her as low 
and watery, and with reason; because Digbeth, then the chief street, 
bears that description. But all the future writers will view her on 
an eminence, and with as much reason ; because, for one low street 
we have now fifty elevated. Birmingham, like the empire to which 
she belongs, has been, for many centuries, travelling np hill ; and 
like that, rising in consequence. 

SOIL. 
The soil is rather light, sandy, and weak ; and though metals of 
varioue sorts are found in great plenty above the surface, we know 
of nothing below, except sand and gravel, stone and water. All the 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 5 

riches of the place, hke those of an emperic iu laced clothes, appear 
on the outside. 

The northern part of the parish, consisting of seven hundred and 
eighty-seven acres, to the disgrace of the age, is yet a shameful 
waste.* A small part of the land is parcelled out into little gardens, 
at ten or twenty shillings each, amounting to about sixteen pounds 
per acre. These are not intended so much for profit, as health 
and amusement. Others are let in detached pieces, for private use, 
at about four pounds per acre ; so that this small parish cannot 
boast of more than six or eight farms, and these of the smaller size, 
at about two pounds per acre.f Manure from the stye brings about 
sixteen shillings a waggon load ; that from the stable twelve ; and 
that from the fire and street five. 

WATER. 
There is not any natural river runs through the parish, but there 
are three that mark its boundaries, for about half its circumference, 
described above ; none of these supply family use. After penetra- 
ting into a body of sand, interspersed with small strata of soft rock, 
and sometimes of gravel, at the depth of about twenty yards, we 
come to plenty of water, rather hard. There are, in the lower parts 
of the town, two excellent springs of soft water, suitable for most 
purposes; one at the top of Digbeth, the other Lady well ; or, rather, 
one spring, or bed of water, with many out-lets, continuing its course 
along the bottom of the hill, parallel with Smallbrook-street, Edg- 
baston-street, St. Martin's-lane, and Park-street, sufficiently copious 
to supply the whole city of London. J Water is of the first conse- 



* This land has been enclosed about thirty years. 

t Grass land now averages a rental of from £4 to £6, and garden 
ground about £10 per acre. 

X A Company has lately been formed, with a capital of upwards 
of £100,000, which supplies this neighbourhood with excellent 
water, brought from the river Tame ; there are two large reservoirs, 
one of which is situated on very high land. Had Mr. Hutton lived, 
he would have been convinced that the supply of water, which he 



6 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

quence; it often influences disease, always the habit of body: that 
of Birmingham is, in genei-al, productive of salutary eiFects. 

BATHS. 

At Ladywell are the most complete baths in the whole island. 
They are seven in number ; erected at the expence of £2000. Ac- 
commodation is ever ready for hot or cold bathing ; for immersion 
or amusement, with conveniency for sweating. That appropriated 
to swimming, is eighteen yards by thirty-six, situated in the centre 
of a garden, in which there are twenty-four private undressing 
houses ; the whole surrounded by a wall ten feet high. Pleasure 
and health are the guardians of the place. The gloomy horrors of 
a bath sometimes deter us from its use, particularly if aided by 
complaint ; but the appearances of these are rather inviting. We 
read of painted sepulchres, whose outsides are richly ornamented, 
but within are full of corruption and death. The reverse is before 
us. No elegance appears without, but within are the springs of life ! 

I do not know any author who has reckoned man among the 
amphibious race of animals ; neither do I know any animal who 
better deserves it. Man is lord of the little ball on which he treads, 
one half of which, at least, is water. If we do not allow him to be 
amphibious, we deprive him of half his sovereignty. He justly 
bears that name who can live in the water. Many of the disorders 
incident to the human frame are prevented, and others cured, both 
by fresh and salt bathing ; so that we may properly remark, " He 
lives i7i the water, who can find life, nay, even health in that 
friendly element." 

The greatest treasure on earth is health ; but a treasure of all 
others, the least valued by the owner. Other property is best rated 
when in possession, but this can only be rated when lost. We 
sometimes observe a man, who, having lost this inestimable jewel, 
seeking it with an ardour equal to its worth; but when every research 

mentions as equal to the wants of the metropolis, is not sufficient 
for the extended demands of Birmingham even at the present day. 
The main pipes are always filled with water, and plugs placed in 
every street, which are vei-y convenient in case of fire, when the ad- 
vantage arising from them is particularly shown. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 7 

b}%land is eluded, he fortunately finds it in the water. Like the 
fish, he pines away upon shore, but like that, recovers again in the 
deep. 

The cure of disease among the Romans, by bathing, is supported 
by many authorities ; among others, by the number of baths fre- 
quently discovered, in which pleasure, in that warm climate, bore 
a part. But this practice seemed to decline with Roman freedom, 
and never after held the eminence it deserved. Can we suppose 
the physician stept between the disease and the bath, to hinder 
their junction; or that he lawfully holds, by subscription, the 
tenure of sickness, \wfee? 

The knowledge of this singular art of healing is at present only 
in infancy. How far it may prevent or conquer disease ; to what 
measure it may be applied, in particular cases, and the degrees of 
use, in difterent constitutions, are inquiries that will be better 
understood by a future generation. 

CHALYBEATE SPRING. 

One mile from Birmingham, in the manor of Duddeston, and 
joining the turnpike-road to Coleshill, is a chalybeate spring, whose 
water has but one defect — it costs nothing. This excellent spring 
lies forlorn, neglected, and exposed to every injury ; it seems daily 
to solicit protection, and oflfer its friendly aid in restoring health ; 
but being daily rejected, it seems to mourn the refusal, dissolve 
itself in tears, and, not being allowed, though designed by nature, 
to increase the health of man, moves weeping along to increase a 
river. All the attention paid by the traveller is, to gaze for a 
moment ; but in the height of contemplation, instead of taking 
out its water, deliver in his own. Had this water passed through 
a bed of malt, instead of mineral, it would have drawn more 
attendants than the shrine of Thomas Becket, and those attendants 
would have stoutly disputed for every rising drop. 

Poverty assumes a variety of shapes : it is sometimes seen in the 
human; sometimes in the horse at the coal cart; again, in the 
pulpit ; in the furniture of a house, or a head. But in whatever 
shape it appears, it is always despised. The low state, and low 
credit of this Well, are equal. Merit is often depressed. Here th? 



8 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

afflicted might find a prescription without expence, efficacious as if 
signed by the whole College of Physicians. The stick and the 
crutch would be nailed round its margin, as trophies of victory over 
disease. The use of the bottle adds to the spirits, but shortens life ; 
this fountain is the renewer of health, the protracter of age. I re- 
mark the water will lose some of its efficacy, if carried off in any 
vessel but the stomach.* 

AIR. 
As we have passed through the water, let us now investigate her 
sister fluid, the air. They are both necessary to life, and the purity 
of both to the prolongation of it ; this small difference lies between 
them — a man may live a day without water, but not an hour with- 
out air. If a man wants better water, it may be removed from a 
distant place for his benefit ; but if he wants better air, he must 
remove himself. The natural air of Birmingham, perhaps, cannot 
be excelled in this climate ; the moderate elevation and dry soil 
evince this truth ; but it receives an alloy from the congregated body 
of sixty thousand people. f Also from the smoke of an extraordinary 
number of fires used in business ; and perhaps more from the various 
effluvia arising from particular trades. It is not uncommon to see a 
man with green hair or a yellow wig, from his constant employment 
in brass ; if he reads, the green vestiges of his occupation remain on 
every leaf, never to be expunged. The inside of his body, no doubt, 
receives the same tincture, but is kept clean by being often washed 
with ale. Some of the fair sex, likewise, are subject to the same in- 
convenience, but find relief in the same remedy. 

LONGEVITY. 

Man is a time-piece. He measures out a certain space, then 
stops for ever. We see him move upon the earth, hear him click, 
and perceive in his countenance the marks of intelligence. His ex- 

* This spring may be distinguished from several other adjacent 
fresh- water springs by its being of a greenish colour, and the aper- 
ture from whence the water flows being protected by a small iron 
frame. 

f The present population of Birmingham amounts to about 
150,000. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 9 

ternal appearance will inform us whether he is old-fashioned, in 
which case he is less valuable upon every gambling calculation. If 
we cast a glance upon his face, we shall learn whether all be right 
within, and what portion of time has elapsed. This curious ma- 
chine is filled with a complication of movements, very unfit to be 
regulated by the rough hand of ignorance, which sometimes leaves 
a mark not to be obliterated even by the hand of an artist. If the 
works are directed by violence, destruction is not far off. If we 
load it with the oil of luxury, it will give an additional vigour, but 
in the end clog and impede the motion. But if the machine is under 
the influence of prudence, she will guide it by an even and a de. 
licate hand, and perhaps the piece may move on till it is fairly worn 
out by a long course of fourscore years. 

There is a set of people who expect to find that health in medicine, 
which possibly might be found in regimen, in air, exercise, or 
serenity of mind. 

There is another class among us, and that rather numerous, whose 
employment is laborious, and whose conduct is irregular. Their 
time is divided between hard working and hard drinking, and both 
by a fire. It is no uncommon thing to see one of these, at forty, 
wear the aspect of sixty, and finish a life of violence at fifty, which 
the hand of prudence would have directed to eighty. The strength 
of a kingdom consists in the multitude of its inhabitants ; success iu 
trade depends upon the manufacturer ; the support and direction of 
a family upon the head of it ; when this useful part of mankind, 
therefore, is cut off in the active part of life, the community sus- 
tains a loss, whether we take the matter in a national, a commercial, 
or a private view. 

We have a third class, who shun the rock upon which these last 
fall, but wreck upon another ; they run upon Scylla, though they 
have missed Charybdis ; they escape the liquid destruction, but 
split upon the solid. These are proficients in good eating ; adepts 
in culling of delicacies, and the modes of dressing them. Masters of 
the whole art of cookery, each carries a kitchen in his head. Thus 
an excellent constitution may be stabbed by the spit. Nature never 
designed us to live well, and continue well ; the stomach is too weak 
a vessel to be richly and deeply laden. Perhaps more injury is don^ 
c 



10 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

by eating than by drinking ; one is a secret, the other an open enemy : 
the secret is always supposed the most dangerous. Drinking attacks 
by assault, but eating by sap : luxury is seldom visited by old age. 
The best antidote yet discovered against this kind of slow poison, 
is exercise ; but the advantages of elevation, air, and water, on one 
hand, and disadvantages of crowd, smoke, and effluvia on the other, 
are trifles compared to intemperance. 

We have a fourth class, and with these I shall return, and shut up 
the clock. If this valuable machine comes finished from the hand 
of nature; if the rough blasts of fortune only attack the outward 
case, without affecting the internal works, and if reason conducts the 
piece, it may move on with a calm, steady, and uninterrupted pace 
to a great extent of years, till time only annihilates the motion. 

I personally knew among us a Mrs. Dallaway, aged near 90 ; 
George Davis, 85 ; John Baddely, Esq. and his two brothers, all 
between 80 and 90 ; Mrs. Allen, 88 ; Mrs. Silk, 84 ; John Burbury, 
84 ; Thomas Rutter, 88 ; EHzabeth Bentley, 88 ; John Harrison and 
his wife, one 86, the other 88 ; Mrs. Floyd, 87; Elizabeth Simms, 
88 ; Sarah Aston, 98 ; Abraham Spooner, Esq. 89 ; Joseph Scott, 
Esq. 94; all, January 9, 1780, I believe, enjoy health and capacity. 
This is not designed as a complete list of the aged, but of such only 
as immediately occur to memory. I also knew a John England, 
who died at the age of 89; Hugh Vincent, 94; John Pitt, 100; 
George Bridgens, 103; Mrs. More, 104. An old fellow assured 
me he had kept the market 77 years ; he kept it for several years 
after to my knowledge. At 90 he was attacked by an acute disorder, 
but, fortunately for himself, being too poor to purchase medical as- 
sistance, he was left to the care of nature, who opened that door to 
health which the physician would have locked for ever. At 106 I 
heard him swear with all the fervency of a recruit : at 107 he died.* 
It is easy to give instances of people who have breathed the smoke 
of Birmingham threescore years, and yet have scarcely quitted the 
precincts of youth. Such are the happy effects of constitution, 
temper, and conduct. 

* Mr. HuTTON died in 1814, aged 92, and was interred at Aston 
Church. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 11 

ANCIENT STATE 

OF 

BIRMINGHAM. 



WE have now to pass through the very remote ages of time. 
The way is long, dark, and slippery. The credit of an historian is 
built upon truth, he cannot assert, without giving his facts ; he 
cannot surmise without giving his reasons ; he must relate thmgs 
as they are, not as he would have them. The fabric founded in 
error will moulder of itself, but that founded in reality will stand 
the age and the critic. 

Except half a dozen pages in Dugdale, I know of no author who 
has professedly treated of Birmingham, None of the histories 
which I have seen bestow upon it more than a few lines, in which 
we are sure to be treated with the noise of hammers and anvils : ag 
if the historian thought us a race of dealers in thunder, lightning, 
and wind ; or infernals, puffing in blast and smoke. 

Suffer me to transcribe a passage from Leland, one of our most 
celebrated writers, employed, by Henry the Eighth, to form an 
Itinerary of Britain, whose works have stood the test of 250 years. 
We shall observe how little he must have been qualified to write 
the history of a place with only riding through it. 

" I came through a pretty street as ever I entered into Birming- 
ham town. This street, as I remember, is called Dirtey (Deritend). 
In it dwells smithes and cutlers, and there is a brook that divides 
this street from Birmingham, an hamlet, or member, belonging to 
the parish therebye. There is at the end of Dirtey a proper chappel, 
and mansion house of tymber (the moat) hard on the ripe (bank) as 
the brook runneth down ; and as I went through the ford, by the 
bridge, the water came down on the right hand, and a few miles 
below goeth into Tame. This brook, above Dirtey, breaketh in two 



12 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM, 

arms, that a little beneath the bridge close again. This brook riseth, 
as some say, four or five miles above Birmingham, towards Black- 
hills. 

" The beauty of Birmingham, a good market-town, in the extreme 
parts of Warwickshire is one street going up alonge, almost from 
the left ripe of the brook, up a meane hill, by the length of a quar- 
ter of a mile. I saw but one parish church in the town. 

" There be many smithes in the town that use to make knives 
and all manner of cutting tools, and many loriners that makes bittes, 
and a great many naylers ; so that a great part of the town is main- 
tained by smithes, who have their iron and sea-coal out of Stafford- 
shire." 

Here we find some intelligence, and more mistake, clothed in the 
■dress of antique diction, which plainly evinces the necessity of mo- 
dern history. 

It is matter of surprise, that none of the religious fraternity, who 
lived in the Priory for fifteen or twenty generations, ever thought of 
indulging posterity with an history of Birmingham. They could 
not v/ant opportunity, nor materials, for they were nearer the infancy 
of time, and were possessed of historical facts now totally lost. 
;Besides, nearly all the little learning in the kingdom was possessed 
by this class of people ; and the place, in their day, must have en- 
joyed an eminent degree of prosperity. 

Though the town has a modern appearance, there is reason to 
believe it of great antiquity ; my Birmingham reader, therefore, 
must suffer me to carry him back into the remote ages of the ancient 
-Britons, to visit his sable ancestors. 

We have no histories of those times but what are left us by the 
-Romans, and these we ought to read with caution, because they 
.were parties in the dispute. If two antagonists write, each his own 
history, the discerning reader will draw the line of justice between 
.them ; but where there is only one, partiality is expected. The 
.Romans were obliged to make the Britons warlike, or there would 
;have been no merit in conquering them : they must also sound 
dtbrth their ignorance, or there would have been none in improving 
ithera. If the Britons were that wretched people they are repre- 
sented by the Romans, they could not be worth conquering : no 



.HISTORY OF BIKMINGHAM. 13 

man subdues a people to improve them, but to profit by them. — 
Though the Romans were in their meridian of splendour, they pur- 
sued Britain a whole century before they reduced it ; which indi- 
cates that they considered it a valuable prize. Though the Britons 
were not masters of science, like the Romans ; though the fine arts 
did not flourish as in Rome, because never planted, yet by many 
testimonies, it is evident, they were masters of plain life; that many 
of the simple arts were practised in that day, as well as in tliis; that 
assemblages of people composed cities, the same as now, but in an 
inferior degree ; and that the country was populous, is plain from 
the immense army Boadicea brought into the field, except the 
Romans increased that army that their merit might be greater in 
defeating it. Nay, I believe we may, with propriety, carry them be- 
yond plain life, and charge them with a degree of elegance : the 
Romans, themselves, allow the Britons were complete masters of 
the chariot ; that when the scythe was fixed at each end of the axle- 
tree, they drove with great dexterity into the midst of the enemy, 
broke their ranks, and mowed them down. Their chariot after- 
wards became useful in peace, was a badge of high life, and continues 
so tvitli their descendants to this day. 

We know the instruments of war used by the Britons were a 
sword, spear, shield, and scyihe. If they were not the manufac- 
turers, how came they by these instruments ? We cannot allow 
either they or the chariots were imported, because that will give 
them a much greater consequence. They must have been well ac- 
quainted with the tools used in husbandry, for they were masters 
of the field in a double sense. Bad, also, as their houses were, a 
chest of carpentry tools would be necessary to complete them. 
We cannot doubt, from these evidences and others which might be 
adduced, that the Britons understood the manufactory of iron. 
Perhaps history cannot produce an instance of any place in an im- 
proving country, like England, where the coarse manufactory of 
iron has been carried on, that ever that laborious art went to decay, 
except the materials failed ; and as we know of no place where 
such materials have failed, there is the utmost reason to believe our 
fore-fathers, the Britons, were supplied with those necessary imple- 
ments by the black artists of the Birmingham forge. Irou-stone 



14 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

and coal are the materials for this production, both which are 
found in the neighbourhood in great plenty. The two following 
circumstances strongly evince this ancient British manufactory : — 

Upon the borders of the Parish stands Aston-furnace, appropri- 
ated for melting iron-stone, and reducing it into pigs ; this has the 
appearance of great antiquity. From the melted ore, in this sub- 
teranean region of infernal aspect, is produced a calx, or cinder, of 
which there is an enormous mountain. From an attentive survey 
the observer would suppose so prodigious a heap could not accumu- 
late in one hundred generations ; however, it shews no perceptible 
addition in the age of man. 

There is also a common of vast extent, called Wednesbury old 
field, in which are the vestiges of many hundred of coal-pits, long 
in disuse, which the curious antiquarian would deem as long in 
sinking, as the mountain of cinders in rising. 

The minute sprig of Birmingham, no doubt first took root in 
this black soil, which in a succession of ages, has grown to its pre- 
sent opulence. At what time this prosperous plant was set, is very 
uncertain ; perhaps as long before the days of Caesar as it is since. 
Thus the mines of Wednesbury empty their riches into the lap of 
Birmingham, and thus she draws nurture from the bowels of the 
earth. 

The chief, if not the only, manufactory of Birmingham, from its 
first existence to the restoration of Charles the Second, was in iron : 
of this was produced instruments of war and husbandry, furniture 
for the kitchen, and tools for the whole system of carpentry. 

The places where our athletic ancestors performed these curious 
productions of art, were in the shops fronting the street : some small 
remains of this very ancient custom are yet visible, chiefly in Digbeth, 
where about a dozen shops still exhibit the original music of anvil 
and hammer. 

As there is the highest probability that Birmingham produced 
her manufactures long before the landing of Caesar, it would give 
pleasure to the curious inquirer, could he be informed of her size 
in those very early ages ; but this information is for ever hid from 
the historian and the reader. Perhaps there never was a period in 
which she saw a decline ; but that her progress has been certain, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 15 

though slow, during the long space of two or three thousand years 
before Charles the Second. 

The very roads that proceed from Birmingham, are additional 
indications of her great antiquity and commercial influence. Where 
any of these roads led up an eminence, they were worn by the long 
practice of ages into deep holloways, some of them twelve or four- 
teen yards below the surface of the banks, with which they were 
once even ; and so narrow as to admit only one passenger. 

Though modern industry, assisted by various turnpike acts, has 
widened the upper part, and filled up the lower, yet they were all 
visible in the days of our fathers, and are traceable even in ours. 
Some of these, no doubt, were formed by the spade, to soften the 
fatigue af climbing the hill, but many were owing to the pure efforts 
of time, the horse and the showers. As inland trade was small, 
prior to the fifteenth century, the use of the waggon, that great 
destroyer of the road, was but little known. The horse was the 
chief conveyer of burdens among the Britons, and for centuries 
after : if we consider the great length of time it would take for the 
rains to form these deep ravages, we must place the origin of Bir- 
mingham at a very early date. 

One of these subterranean passages, in part filled up, will convey 
its name to posterity in that of a street, called Holloway-head, till 
lately, the way to Bromsgrove and to Bewdley. Dale-end, once a 
deep road, has the same derivation. Another at Summer-hill, in 
the Dudley-road, altered in 1753. A remarkable one is also be- 
tween the Salutation and the turnpike, in the Wolverhampton- 
road, A fifth at the top of Walmer-lane, changed into its present 
form in 1764, Another between Gosta-green and Aston-brook, re- 
duced in 1 752. All the way from Dale-end to Duddeston, of which 
Coleshill-street now makes a part, and Mile-end another, was sunk 
five or six feet though nearly upon a flat, till filled up in 1756 by 
Act of Parliament ; but the most singular is that between Deritend 
and Camp-hill, in the way to Stratford, which was fifty-eight feej. 
deep and is, even now, many yards below the banks; yet the 
seniors of the last age took a pleasure in telling us, they could 
remember when it would have buried a waggon load of hay beneath 
its J)resent surface. Thus the traveller of old, who came to pur- 



16 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

chase the produce of Birmingham, or to sell liis own, seemed to 
approach her by sap. 

British traces are, no doubt, discoverable in the old Dudley-road 
down Easy-hill, under the canal ; at the eight mile-stone, and at 
Smethwick : also in many of the private roads near Birmingham, 
which were never thought to merit a repair, particularly at Good 
Knave's-end, towards Harborne; the Green-lane, leading to the 
Garrison ; and that beyond Longbridge, in the road to Yardley ; 
all of them deep holloways, which carry evident tokens of antiquity. 
Let the curious calculator determine what an an amazing length of 
time would elapse in wearing the deep roads along Saltley-field, 
Shaw-hill, Allum-rock, and the remainder of the way to Stitchford, 
only a pitiful hamlet of a dozen houses. 

The ancient centre of Birmingham seems to have been the Old 
Cross, from the number of streets pomting towards it. Wherever 
the narrow end of a street enters a great thoroughfare, it indicates 
antiquity. This is the case with Philip-street, Bell-street, Park- 
street, Spiceal-street, and Moor-street, which not only incline to the 
centre above mentioned, but terminate with their narrow ends in the 
grand passage. As the town increased, other blunders of the same kind 
were committed ; witness the gateway late at the east end of New- 
street, the two ends of Worcester-street, Smallbrook-street, Cannon- 
street, New Meeting-street, and Bull-street ; it is easy to see which 
end of a street was formed first; perhaps the south end of Moor-street 
is two thousand years older than the north ; the same errors are 
committing in our day, as in Hill and Vale-streets, the two Hink- 
leys, and Catherine-street. One generation, for want of foresight, 
forms a narrow entrance, and another widens it by Act of Parliament. 

Every word in the English language carries an idea : when a word 
strikes the ear, the mind immediately forms a picture which repre- 
sents it as faithfully as the looking-glass does the face. Thus, when 
the word Birmingham occurs, a superb picture instantly expands 
in the mind, which is best explained by the other words grand, 
populous, extensive, active, commercial, and humane. This paint- 
ing is an exact counter-part of the word at this day ; but it does not 
correspond with its appearance in the days of the ancieut Britons — 
we must, therefore, for a moment, detach the idea from the word. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 17 

Let us suppose, then, this centre surrounded with less than one 
hundred straggling huts, without order, which we will dignify with 
the name of houses ; built of timber, the interstices wattled with 
sticks, and plastered with mud ; covered with thatch, boards, or 
sods ; none of them higher than the ground story : the meaner sort 
with only one room, which served for three uses, shop, kitchen, 
and lodging-room ; the door for two, it admitted the people and the 
light : the better sort, two rooms, and some three, for work, for 
the kitchen, and for rest ; all three in a line, and sometimes front- 
ing the street. 

If the curious reader chuses to see a picture of Birmingham in 
the time of the Britons, he will find one in the turnpike road, be- 
tween Hales-Owen and Stourbridge, called the Lie- Waste, alias 
Mud City. The houses stand in every direction, mostly composed 
of one large and ill-formed brick, scoped into a tenement, burnt by 
the sun, and often destroyed by the frost : the males nearly naked ; 
the females accomplished breeders. The children, at the age of 
three months, take a singular hue from the sun and soil, which 
continues for life. The rags which cover them leave no room for 
the observer to guess at the sex. We might as well look for the 
moon in a coal-pit, as for stays or white linen in the City of Mud. 
The principal tool in business is the hammer, and the beast of bur- 
den the ass. 

The extent of our little colony of artists, perhaps reached nearly 
as high as the east end of New-street, occupied the upper part of 
Spiceal-street, and penetrated down the hill to the top of Digbeth, 
chiefly on the east. 

Success, which ever waits on industry, produced a gradual, but 
very slow increase ; perhaps a thousand years elapsed without add- 
ing half the number of houses. 

Thus our favourite plantation having taken such firm root, that 
she was then able to stand the wintry blasts of fortune, we shall di- 
gress for a moment, while she wields her sparkling heat, according 
to the fashion of the day, in executing the orders of the sturdy 
Briton ; then of the polite and heroic Roman ; afterwards of our 
mild ancestors, the Saxons — (whether she raised her hammer for 
the plundering Dane is uncertain, his reign being short) ; and, lastly, 
for the resolute and surly Nor man. 

D 



18 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

It does not appear that Birmingham, from its first formation to 
the present day, was ever the habitation of a gentleman, the lords 
of the manor excepted. But if there are no originals among us, we 
can produce many striking likenesses : the smoke of Birmingham 
has been very propitious to their growth, but not to their maturity. 
Gentlemen, as well as buttons, have been stamped here ; but, like 
them, when finished, then are moved oflT. They both originate from 
a very uncouth state, without form or comeliness ; and pass through 
various stages, uncertain of success. Some of them, at length, re- 
ceive the last polish, and arrive at perfection ; while others, ruined 
by a flaw, are deemed wasters. I have known the man of opulence 
direct his gilt chariot out of Birmingham, who first approached her 
an helpless orphan in rags. I have known the chief magistrate of 
fifty thousand people, fall from his phaeton, and humbly ask bread 
at a parish vestry. Frequently the wheel of capricious fortune de- 
scribes a circle, in the rotation of which a family experiences alter- 
nately the height of prosperity and the depth of distress ; but more 
frequently, like a pendulum, it describes only the arc of a circle, 
and that always at the bottom. 

Many fine estates have been struck out of the anvil, valuable 
possessions raised by the tongs, and superb houses, in a two-fold 
sense, erected by the trowel. The paternal ancestor of the late Sir 
Charles Holte was a native of this place, and purchaser in the begin- 
ning of Edward the Third, of the several manors, which have been 
the honour and the support of his house to the present time. Walter 
Clodshale was another native of Birmingham, who, in 1332, pur- 
chased the manor of Saltley, now enjoyed by his maternal descen- 
dant, Charles Bowyer Adderley, Esq. Charles Colmore, Esq. holds 
a considerable estate in the parish ; his predecessor is said to have 
occupied, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, that house, now No. 1, 
in the High-street, as a mercer, and general receiver of the taxes. 
A numerous branch of this ancient family flourishes in Birmingham 
at this day. The head of it, in the reign of James I. erected New- 
hall, and himself into a gentleman. On this desirable eminence, 
about half a mile from the buildings, they resided, till time, fashion, 
and success, removed them, like their predecessors, the sons of 
fortune, to a greater distance. The place was then possessed by a 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 19 

tenant, as a farm : but Birmingham, a speedy traveller, marched 
over the premises, and covered them with twelve hundred houses, 
on building leases ; the farmer was converted into a steward ; his 
brown hempen frock, which guarded the outside of his waistcoat, 
became white holland, edged with ruffles, and took its station 
within : the pitchfork was metamorphosed into a pen, and his an- 
cient practice of breeding sheep, was changed into that of dressing 
their skins. Robert Philips, Esq. acquired a valuable property in 
the seventeenth century, now possessed by his descendant, William 
Theodore Inge, Esq. A gentleman of the name of Foxall, assured 
me, that the head of his family resided upon the spot, now No. 101, 
in Digbeth, about four hundred years ago, in the capacity of a 
tanner. Richard Smallbroke, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, 
in the reign of George II. was a native of Birmingham, as his an- 
cestors were for many ages, with reputation : he was born at No. 
19, in the High-street, had great property in the town, now enjoyed 
by his descendants, though they have left the place. The families 
also of Weaman, Jennens, Whalley, Sec. have acquired vast property, 
and quitted the meridian of Birmingham ; and some others are at 
this day ripe for removal. Let me close this bright scene of pros- 
perity, and open another, which can only be viewed with a melan- 
choly eye. We cannot behold the distresses of man without com- 
passion ; but that distress which follows affluence, comes with 
double effect. 

We have among us a family of the name of Middlemore, of great 
antiquity, deducible from the conquest ; who held the chief posses- 
sions, and the chief offices in the county, and who matched into the 
first families in the kingdom, but fell with the interest of Charles 
the First ; and are now in that low ebb of fortune, that I have 
frequently, with a gloomy pleasure, relieved them at the common 
charity-board of the town. Such is the tottering point of human 
greatness. Again, another of the name of Braeebridge, who, for 
more than six hundred years, figured in the first ranks of life ; a 
third of the name of Mountfort, who shone with meridian splendour, 
through a long train of ages. As genealogy was ever a favourite 
amusement, I have often conversed with tliese solitary remains of 
tarnished lustre, but find in all of them, the pride of their family 



20 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

buried with its greatness — they pay no more attention to the arms 
oF their ancestoi's, than to a scrap of paper, with which they would 
light their pipe. Upon consulting one of the name of Elwall, said to 
be descended from the Britons, I found him so uninformed, that he 
could not stretch his pedigree even so high as his grandfather. A 
fifch family among \is, of the name of Arden, stood upon the pin- 
nacle of fame in the days of Alfred the Great, where, perhaps they 
had stood for ages before: they continued the elevation about seven 
hundred years after; but having treasonable charges brought against 
them, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, about two hundred years ago, 
they were thrown from this exalted eminence, and dashed to pieces 
in the fall. In various consultations with a member of this honour- 
able house, I found the greatness of his fitmily not only lost, but 
the memory of it also. I assured him, that his family stood higher 
in the scale of honour, than any private one within my knowledge : 
that his paternal ancestors, for about seven generations, were succes- 
sively Earls of Warwick, before the Norman Conquest : that though 
he could not boast a descent from the famous Guy, he was related to 
him : that, though Turchell, Earl of Warwick, at the conquest his 
direct ancestor, lost the Earldom in favour of Roger Newburgh, a 
favourite of William's; yet, as the Earl did not appear in arms 
against the Conqueror, at the battle of Hastings, nor oppose the new 
interest, he was allowed to keep forty-six of his manors : and that he 
retired upon his own vass estate, which he held in dependence, 
where the family resided with great opulence, in one house, for 
many centuries. He received the information with some degree of 
amazement, and replied with a serious face, — " Perhaps there may 
have been something great in my predecessors, for my grandfather 
kept several cows in Birmingham, and sold milk. !" 

The families of those ancient Heroes, of Saxon and Norman race, 
are, chiefly by the mutations of time, and of state, either become 
extinct, or as above, reduced to the lowest verge of fortune. Those 
few, therefore, whose descent is traceable, may be carried higher 
than that of the'present nobility ; for I know none of these last, who 
claim peerage beyond Edward the First, about 1295. Hence it fol- 
lows, that for antiquity, alliance, and blood, the advantage is evi- 
dently in favour of the lowest class. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 21 

Could one of those illustrious shades return to the earth and in- 
spect human actions, he might behold one of his descendants danc- 
ing at the lathe : another, tippling with his dark brethren of the 
apron ; a third, humbly soliciting from other families such favours 
as were formerly granted by his own , a fourth, imitating modern 
grandeur, by contracting debts he never designs to pay ; and a fifth 
snuiF of departed light, poaching, like a thief in the night, upon the 
very manors possessed by his ancestors. 

Whence is it that title, pedigree, and alliance in superior life, are 
esteemed of the highest value ; while in the inferior, who has a 
prior claim, they are totally neglected ? The grand design of every 
creature upou earth, is to supply the wants of nature. No amuse- 
ments of body or mind can be adopted, till hunger is served. When 
the appetite calls, the whole attention of the animal, with all its pow- 
ers is bound to answer. Hence arise those dreadful contests in the 
brute creation, from the lion in the woods, to the dog who seizes the 
bone. Hence the ship, when her provisions are spent, and she 
becalmed, casts a savage eye upon human sacrifices ; and hence, the 
attention of the lower ranks of men is too far engrossed for mental 
pursuit. They see, like Esau, the honours of their family devoured 
with a ravenous appetite. A man with an empty cupboard would 
make but a wretched philosopher. But if fortune should smile iipon 
one of the lower race, raise him a step above his original standing 
and give him a prospect of independence he immediately begins to 
eye the arms upon carriages, examine old records for his name, and 
inquires where the Heralds' Office is kept. Thus, when the urgency 
of nature is set at liberty, the bird can whistle upon the branch, the 
fish play upon the surface, the goat skip upon the mountain, and 
even man himself can bask in the sunshine of science. 

We have several families, as the Colmores,the Clarkes, the Mays, 
the Smallwoods, the Bedfords, through whose veins flow the blood- 
royal of England, with that of most of the European princes. For 
these families being descended from the Willoughbys, and they 
from the Marmions, whose daughter married Richard, natural son 
of King John, brings up our laboured pedigree to a sceptre and 
a crown. From thence, as by a spacious turnpike-road, we easily 
travel through the great names of antiquity ; as William the Con- 



22 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

queror, Edmund Ironside, the accomplished Alfred, the powerful 
Egbert, the beloved Cerdic, till we arrive at the Saxon Deity 
JFoden. I digress no farther. 

The situation of St. Martin's church is another reason for fixing 
the centre of Birmingham at tlie Old Cross. Christianity made an 
early and swift progress in this kingdom ; persecution, as might be 
expected, followed her footsteps, increased her votaries, and as was 
ever the case in all new religions, her proselytes were very devout. 
The religious fervour of the Christians displayed itself in building 
churches. Most of those in England are of Saxon original, and 
were erected between the fourth and tenth century ; that of St. 
Martin is ancient beyond the reach of historical knowledge, and 
probably rose in the early reigns of the Saxon kings. 

It was the custom of those times, to place the church, if there 
was but one, out of the precincts of the town ; this is visible at the 
present day in those places which have received no increase. 

Perhaps it will not be an unreasonable supposition to fix the erec- 
tion of St. Martin's in the eighth century; and if the inquisitive 
reader chuses to traverse the town a second time, he may find its 
l)0undaries something like the following. We cannot allow its ex- 
tension northward beyond the east part of New-street; that it 
included then the narrow parts of Philip-street, Bell-street, Spiceal- 
street, Moor-street, and Park-street. The houses at this period 
were more compact than heretofore ; that Digbeth and Deritend, 
lying in the road to Stratford, Warwick, and Coventry, all 
places of antiquity, were now formed. Thus the church stood in 
the environs of the town, unencumbered with buildings. Possibly 
this famous nursei-y of arts might, by this time, produce six hun- 
dred houses. A town must increase before its appendages are 
formed; those appendages also must increase before there is a 
necessity for an additional chapel, and after that increase, the inha- 
bitants may wait long before that necessity is removed by building 
one. Deritend is an appendage to Birmingham ; the inhabitants of 
this hamlet having long laboured under the inconvenience of being 
remote from the parish church of Aston, and also too numerous 
for admission into that of Birmingham, procured a grant in 1381 to 
ei'ect a chapel of their own. If we, therefore, allow three hundred 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 23 

years for the infancy of Deritend, three hundred more for her matu- 
rity, and four hundred since the erection of her chapel, which is a 
very reasonable allowance, it will bring us to the time I mentioned. 

It does not appear that Deritend was attended with any consider- 
able augmentation, from the Norman Conquest to the year 1767, 
when a turnpike road was opened to Alcester, and when Henry 
Bradford publicly offered a freehold to the man who should first 
build upon his estate ; since which time Deritend, only one street, 
has made a rapid progress ; and this dusky offspring of Birmingham 
is now travelling apace along her new formed road.* 

I must again recline upon Dugdale. In 1309, William de Birm- 
ingham, Lord of the Manor, took a distress of the inhabitants of 
Bromsgrove and King's Norton, for refusing to pay the customary 
tolls of the market. The inhabitants brought their action, and re- 
covered damages, because it was said, their lands being the ancient 
demesne of the crown, they had a right to sell their produce in any 
market in the King's dominion. It appeared in the course of the 
trial, that the ancestors of William de Birmingham had a market 
HERE before the Norman Conquest ! I shall have occasion, in 
future to resume this remarkable expression. I have also met with 
an old author, who observes, that Birmingham was governed by 
two constables in the time of the Saxons ; small places have seldom 
more than one. These evidences prove much in favour of the 
government, population, and antiquity of the place. 

In Doomesday-book it is rated at four hides of land. A hide 
was as much as a team could conveniently plough in a year ; per- 
haps about fifty acres ; I think there are not now more than two 
hundred ploughed in the parish. It was also said to contain woods 
of half a mile in length, and four furlongs in breath. What diflfer- 
ence subsisted between half a mile and four furlongs, in ancient time, 
is uncertain ; we know of none now. The mile was reduced to its 
present standard in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; neither are their 



* The inhabitants of Deritend, in 1 791 , obtained an act for lighting 
and cleansing the streets, empowering 31 Commissioners to carry the 
same into effect. 



24 PIISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

the least traces of those woods, for at this day it is difficult to find 
a stick that deserves the name of a tree, in the whole manor. Tim- 
ber is no part of the manufactory of Birmingham. 

Let us survey the town a third time, as we may reasonahly suppose 
it stood in the most remarkable period of English history, that of 
the Conquest. 

We cannot yet go farther north of the centre than before, that is, 
along the High-street, till we meet the east end of New-street. We 
shall penetrate rather farther into Moor-street, none into Park-street, 
take in Digbeth, Deritend, Edgbaston-street, as being the road to 
Dudley, Bromsgrove, and the whole West of England ; Spiceal- 
street, the Shambles, a larger part of Bell-street, and PhiHp-street. 

The ancient increase of the town was towards the south ; because 
of the great road, the convenience of water, the churcli, and the 
manor house, all which lay in that quarter ; but the modern exten- 
sion was chiefly towards the north, owing to the scions of her trade 
being transplanted all over the country as far as Wednesbury, Wal- 
sall, and Wolverhampton ; but particularly her vicinity to the coal 
delphs, which were ever considered as the soul of her prosperity. 
Perhaps by this time the number of houses might have been aug- 
mented to seven hundred : but whatever were her number, either 
in this or any other period, we cannot doubt her being populous in 
every aera of her existence. 

The following small extract from the register will shew a gradual 
increase, even before the Restoration : — 



Year. 


Christenings. 


Weddings. Burials. 


1555, 


37, 




15, 27, 


1558, 


48, 




10, 47. 


1603, 


65, 




14, 40. 


1625, 


76, 




18, 47. 


1660, 


76, 


from April, to December ii 



ive. 

In 1251, William de Birmingham, Lord of the Manor, procured 
an additional charter from Henry the Third, reviving some decayed 
privileges, and granting others ; among the last was that of the 
Whitsuntide fair, to begin on the eve of Holy Thursday, and to 
continue four days. At the alteration of the style, in 1752, it was 
prudently changed to the Thursday in Whitsun week ; that leas 



HISTOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 25 

time might be lost to the injury of work and the workman. He 
also procured another fair, to begin on the eve of St. Michael, and 
continue for three days. Both which fairs are, at this day, in great 
repute.* 

By the interest of Audomore de Valance, Earl of Pembroke, a 
licence was obtained from the Crown, in 1319, to chai-ge an addi- 
tional toll upon every article sold in the market for three years, to- 
wards paving the town. Every quarter of corn to pay one farthing, 
and other things in proportion. But, at the expiration of the term, 
the toll was found inadequate to the expense, and the work lay dor- 
mant for eighteen years, till 1337, when a second licence was 
obtained, equal to the first, which completed the intention. 

Those streets, thus dignified with a pavement, or rather their 
sides, to accommodate the foot-passenger, probably were High- 
street, the Bull-ring, Corn-cheaping, Digbeth, St. Martin's-lane, 
Moat-lane, Edgbaston-street, Spiceal-street, and part of Moor-street. 
It was the practice, in those early days, to leave the centre of a 
street unpaved, for the easier passage of carriages and horses ; the 
consequence was, in flat streets, the road became extremely dirty, 
almost impassable, and in a descent the soil was quickly worn away, 
and left a causey on each side. Many instances of this ancient 
practice are within memory. 

The streets, no doubt, in which the fairs were held, mark the 
boundaries of the town in the thirteenth century. Though smaller 
wares were sold upon the spot used for the market, the rougher ar- 
ticles, such as cattle, were exposed to sale in what were then the 
out-streets. The fair for horses was held in Edgbaston-street, and 
that for beasts in the High-street, tending towards the Welch 
Cross. — Inconvenient as these streets seem for the purpose, our 
dark ancestors, of peaceable memory, found no detriment, during 
the infant state of population, in keeping them there. But we, their 
crowded sons, for want of accommodation, have wisely removed 
both: the horse-fair, in 1777, to Brick-kiln-lane, now the extreme 



* The latter fair, during the last twenty years, has, by order of 
the authorities, commenced the first Thursday alter Michaelmas. 

E 



26 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

part of the town ; and that for beasts, in 1769, into the open part 
of Dale-end.* Whatever veneration we may entertain for ancient 
custom, there is sometimes a necessity to break it. Were we now 
to solicit the Crown for a fair, those streets would be the last we 
should fix on. 

If we survey Birmingham in the twelfth century, we shall find 
her crowded with timber, within and without; her streets dirty and 
narrow, but much trodden. The inhabitant became an early en- 
croacher upon her narrow streets, and sometimes the lord was the 
greatest. Her houses were mean and low, but few reaching higher 
than one story, perhaps none more than two ; composed of wood 
and plaister — she was a stranger to brick. Her public buildings 
consisted solely of one, tJie church. If we behold her in the four- 
teenth century, we shall observe her private buildings multiplied 
more than improved ; her narrow streets, by trespass, become nar- 
rower ; her public buildings increased to four ; two in the town and 
two at a distance ; the Priory, of stone, founded by contribution, 
at the head of which stood her lord ; the Guild, of timber, after- 
wards the Free School ; and Deritend Chapel, of the same mate- 
rials, resembling a barn, with something like an awkward dove-coat, 
at the west-end, by way of steeple. All these will be noticed in 
due course. If we take a view of the inhabitants, we shall find 
them industrious, plain, and honest. In curious operations, known 
only to a few, the artist was amply paid. Nash, in his history of 
Worcestershire, gives us a curious list of anecdotes, from the 
churchwarden's ledger, of Hales-owen. I shall transcribe two, 
nearly three hundred years old. *' Paid for bread and ale, to 
make my Lord Abbot drink, in Rogation week, 2(i." What 
should we now think of an ecclesiastical nobleman, accepting a 
twopenny treat from a country churchwarden ? — It shows also the 
amazing reduction of money : the same sum which served my Lord 
Abbot four days, would now be devoured by a journeyman in four 
minutes. — " 1498, paid for repeyling the organs, to the organ- 



* The Beast-market, or Smithfield, now occiipies the space form- 
erly recognised by " the Moat.'' 



HISTORY OF BIKMINGHAM. 27 

maker at Bromicham, 10a\" Birmingham then, we find, disco- 
vered the powers of genius in the finer arts, as well as in iron. By 
" the organ-maker," we should .suppose there was but one. It ap- 
pears that the art of acquiring riches was as well understood by our 
fathers, as by us ; while an artist could receive as much money for 
tuning an organ as would purchase an acre of land, or treat near 
half a gross of Lord Abbots. 



BATTLE OF CAMP-HILL, 
1643. 

Clarendon reproaches with virulence, our spirited ancestors, 
for disloyalty to Charles the First. The day after the King left 
Birmingham, on his march from Shrewsbury, in 1642, they seized 
his carriages, containing the royal plate and furniture, which they 
conveyed, for security, to Warwick Castle. They apprehended all 
messengers and suspected persons ; frequently attacked and reduced 
small parties of the royalists, whom they sent prisoners to Coventry, 
Hence the proverbial expression to a refractory person, send him 
to Coventry. 

In 1643, the King ordered Prince Rupert, with a detachment of 
two thousand men, to open a communication between Oxford and 
York. In his march to Birmingham, he found a company of foot, 
kept for the Parliament, lately reinforced by a troop of horse from 
the garrison at Lichfield ; but, supposing they would not resist a 
power of ten to one, sent his quartermasters to demand lodging and 
offer protection. But tlie sturdy sons of freedom, having cast up 
slight works at each end of the town, and barricadoed the lesser 
avenues, rejected the oflfer and the officers. The military uniting 
in one small and compact body, assisted by the inhabitants, were 
determined the King's forces should not enter. Their little fire 
opened on the Prince ; but bravery itself, though possessed of an 
excellent spot of ground for defence, was obliged to give way to 
numbers. The Prince quickly put them to silence ; yet, under the 
success of his own arms, he was not able to enter the town, for the 
inhabitants had choked up, with carriages, the deep and narrow 



28 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

road, then between Deritend and Camp-hill, which obliged the 
Prince to alter his rout to the left, and proceed towards Long- 
bridge. The spirit of resistance was not yet broken ; they sustained 
a second attack, but to no purpose, except that of slaughter. A 
running fight continued through the town ; victory declared loudly 
for the Prince ; the retreat became general : part of the vanquished 
took the way to Oldbury. William Fielding, Earl of Denbigh, a 
volunteer under the Prince, being in close pursuit of an officer in 
the service of the Parliament, and both upon the full gallop, up 
Shirhnd-lane, in the manor of Smechwick, the officer, instantly 
turning, discharged a pistol at the Earl, and mortally wounded him 
with a random shot. The Parliament troops were animated in the 
engagement by a clergyman, who acted as governor, but being taken 
in the defeat, and refusing quarter, was killed in the Red Lion Inn. 
The Prince, provoked at the resistance, in revenge set fire to the 
town. His wrath is said to have kindled in Bull-street, and con- 
sumed several houses near the spot, now No. 12. He obliged the 
inhabitants to quench the flames, with a heavy fine, to prevent far- 
ther military execution. Part of the fine is said to have been shoes 
and stockings for his people. The Parliament forces had formed 
their camp in that well-chosen angle which divides the Stratford 
and Warwick roads upon Camp-hill. The victorious Prince left 
no garrison, because their insignificant works were untenable ; 
but left an humbled people, and marched to the reduction of Lich- 
field. 

It is not without a smile that I transcribe a passage from the news- 
papers of the day, entitled — " The barbarous and butcherly cruelty 
of the Cavaliers at Birmingham. — April 8, 1G43, certain intelligence 
arrived of the cruel slaughter of divers inhabitants of that honest 
town ; about eighty houses were burnt down by that barbarous and 
butcherly prince of rohhers, Prince Rupert, and his accursed cava- 
liers. But his filching forces got but little by their inhuman barba- 
rity, for the unarmed inhabitants, mostly smiths, nailors, and work- 
ers in iron, with such weapons as they had, so knocked the Earl of 
Denbigh, that he received his death-wound in his furious pursuit 
of them ; and we are informed that arch traitor to the Commons, 
Lord Digby, was wounded. It is, however, a remarkable provi- 



HLSTOKV OF BIRMINGHAM. 29 

dence, that in plundering and burning the town, the greatest loss 
fell upon the malignant party, for most of the honest had conveyed 
their goods to Coventry, before the arrival of the Cavaliers." 



In IG65, London was not only visited with the plague, but many 
other parts of England, among which Birmingham felt this dread- 
ful mark of the divine judgment. The infection is said to have 
been caught by a box of clothes, brought by the carrier, and lodged 
at the White Ilart. Depopulation ensued. The Church-yard was 
insufficient for the reception of the dead, who were conveyed to 
Lady- Wood-green, one acre of waste land, thence denominated the 
Pest Ground. 

The charter for the market has evidently been renewed by divers 
kings, both Saxon and Norman, but when first granted is uncertain, 
perhaps at an early Saxon date ; and the day seems never to have 
been changed from Thursday. 

The Lords were tenacious of their privileges ; or, one would 
think, there was no need to renew their charter. Prescription, ne- 
cessity, and increasing numbers, would establish the right. Per- 
haps, in a Saxon period, there was room sufficient in our circum- 
scribed market-place, for the people and their weekly supplies ; but 
now their supplies would fill it, exclusive of the people. 

Thus by a steady and a persevering hand, she kept a constant 
and uniform stroke at the anvil, through a vast succession of ages, 
rising superior to the frowns of fortune, establishing a variety of 
productions from iron, ever improving her inventive powers, and 
perhaps changing a number of her people, equal to her whole inhc- 
bitants, every sixteen years, till she arrived at another important 
period, the end of the civil wars of Charles the First.* 



♦ \Ve shall close this account of tlie anricnt state of Binniiig-ham, by insert- 
ing: part of a Poetical Address to the inhabitants of the town, published many 
years ago in Swinney's Birmingham Chronicle. 

'•Hail, native town! with womrrons g^enius crownd, 
Tiiy fame, triumphant, spreads the world around. 
From pole to pole is heard the mighty blast, 
Which shall till time s remotest period last ; 
Fur praisr, like thine, shall cv'ry tongue proi laim, 
N\ hilc woilh can raise, or nu-rit build a name'. 



30 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

MODERN STATE OF BIRMINGHAM. 

It is the practice of the historian to divide ancient history from 
modern, at the fall of the Roman Empire. For, during a course of 
about seven hundred years, while the Roman name beamed in me- 
ridian splendour, the lustre of her arms and political conduct in- 
fluenced, more or less, every country in Europe. But at the fall 
of that mighty empire, which happened in the fifth century, every 
one of the conquered provinces was left to stand upon its own 
basis. From this period the history of nations takes a material turn. 

The English historian divides his ancient account from the mo- 
dern, at the extinction of the house of Plantagenet, in 1485, the fall 
of Richard the Third. For, by the introduction of letters, an 
amazing degree of light was thrown upon science, and, by a new 
system of politics, adopted by Henry the Seventh, the British Con- 
stitution, occasioned by one small Act of Parliament, that of allow- 
ing liberty to sell land, took a very different, and an important 
course. 

But the ancient and modern state of Birmingham must divide at 
the restoration of Charles the Second. For though she had before 
held a considerable degree of eminence, yet at this period, the cu- 
rious arts began to take root, and were cultivated by the hand of 
genius. Building leases, also, began to take effect, extension fol- 
lowed, and numbers of people crowded upon each other as into a 



As a kind tree, perfectly adapted for growth, and planted in a 
suitable soil, draws nourishment from the circumjacent ground to 



Thou nurse of beauty, elegance, and art, 

Europe's grand toy-shop, and the worlds wide naart! 

Vulcanic toil did once thy cares resound, 

Now pleasing fancy ever smiles around, 

Whose brilliant charms, superbly-rich, display 

The lively taste and talent of the day. 

The various toys of art's productive skill 

Flash into being — forming at thy will : 

Nor yet confin'd to fancy's curious eye, 

Thy bolder projects thunder in the sky. 

With tenfold force the pond'rous engines roar. 

Ingenious proofs of elemental power. 

While bright invention ever gilds thy name. 

And stamps thee foremost in mechanic fame." 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 31 

a great extent, and robs the neighbouring plants of their support, 
that nothing can thrive within its influence; so Birmingham, half 
whose inhabitants above the age of ten, perhaps, are not natives, 
draws her annual supply of hands, and is constantly fed by the 
towns that surround her, where her trades are not practised, pre- 
venting every increase to those neighbours who kindly contribute 
to her wants. This is the case with Bromsgrove, Dudley,* Stour- 
bridge, Sutton, Lichfield, Tamworth, Coleshill, and Solihull. 

We have taken a view of Birmingham in several periods of its 
existence, during the long course of perhaps three thousand years, 
standing sometimes upon presumptive ground. If the prospect has 
been a little clouded, it only caused us to be more attentive, that 
we might not be deceived. But, though we have attended her 
through so immense a space, we have only seen her in infancy ; 
comparatively small in her size, homely in her person, and coarse 
in her dress. Her ornaments, wholly of iron, from her own forge. 
But nowy her growth will he amazing, her expansion rapid, per- 
haps not to he paralleled in history. We shall see her rise in all 
the beauty of youth, of grace, of elegance, and attract the notice of 
the commercial world. She will add to her iron ornaments the 
lustre of every metal that the whole earth can produce, with all their 
illustrious race of compounds, heightened by fancy, and garnished 
with jewels. She will draw from the fossil and the vegetable king- 
doms ; press the ocean for shell, skin, and coral ; she will tax the 
animal for horn, bone, and ivory, and she will decorate the whole 
with the touches of her pencil. 

I have met with some remarks, published in 1743, wherein the 
author observes, " That Birmingham, at the restoration, probably 
consisted only of three streets." But it is more probable it consisted 
of fifteen, though not all finished, and about nine hundred houses. 
I am sensible when an author strings a parcel of streets together, he 
furnishes but a dry entertainment for his reader, especially to a 
stranger. But, as necessity demands intelligence from the histo- 



* Since this was written the population of Dudley has rapidly in- 
creased. Perhaps its contiguity to the coal and iron districts may 
be cause. 



32 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

rian, I must beg leave to mention the streets and their supposed 
number of houses : — 

Digbeth nearly the same as now, except the twenty-three houses 
between the two Mill-lanes, which are of a modern date, about 
110; Moat-lane (Court-lane) 12; Corn-market and Shambles 50 ; 
Spiceal-street 50 ; Dudley-street 50 ; Bell-street 30 ; Philip-street 
20; St. Martin's-lane 15; Edgbaston-street 70; Lee's-lane 10; 
Park-street, extending from Dig!)eth nearly to the east-end of Free- 
man-street 80 ; Moor-street to the bottom of Castle-street 70 ; 
Bull street, not so high as the Minories 50 ; High-street 100 ; Deri- 
tend and Bordesley 120 ; odd houses scattered round the verge of 
the town 70.— Total 907. The number of Inhabitants 5,472. 

The same author farther observes, " That from the Restoration to 
the year 1700, the streets of Birmingham were increased to thirty- 
one." But I can make their number only twenty-eight, and many 
of these far from complete. Also, that the whole number of houses 
were 2,504, and the inhabitants 15,032. The additional streets 
therefore seem to have been Castle-street, Carr"s-lane, Dale-end, 
Stafford-street, Bull-lane, Pinfold-street, Colmore-street, the Frog- 
gery, Old Meeting-street, Worcester-street, Peck-lane, New-street, 
(a small part) Lower Mill-lane. 

Dr. Thomas, the continuator of Dugdale, tells us, " The old parish 
contained about 900 houses, the new between seven and eight, 
Deritend 90, and Bordesley 30," but omits the time; probably 
about the erection of St. Philip's. 

From the year 1700 to 1731, there is said to have been a farther 
addition of twenty-five streets, I know of only twenty-three : and 
also of 1,215 houses, and 8,250 inhabitants. Their names we offer 
asunder: — Freeman-street, New Meeting-street, Moor-street, (the 
North part) Wood-street, the Butts, Lichfield-street, Thomas- 
street, John's-street, London Prentice-street, Lower Priory, the 
Square, Upper Priory, Minories, Steelhouse-Iane, Cherry-street, 
Cannon-street, Needless-alley, Temple-street, King's-street, Queen- 
street, Old Hinkleys, Smallbroke-street, and the East part of Hill- 
street. 

I first saw Birmingham July 14, 1741, and will perambulate its 
boundaries with my traveller, beginning at the top of Snow-hill, 



HISTORY OF nTT^MINCTIAM. 33 

keeping the town on our left;, and the fields that then were, on onr 
right. 

Through BulI-laiK^ we proceed to Temple-street ; down Peck- 
lane, to the top of Pinfold-street; Dudley-street, the Old Ilinkleys 
to the top of Smallbrook-street, back through Edgbaston-street, 
Digbetl], to the upper end of Deritend. "We shall return through 
Park-street, Masshouse-lane, the north of Dale-end, Stafford-street, 
Steelliouse-lane, to the top of Snow-hill, from whence we set out. 

If we compare this account with that of 1731, we shall not find 
any great addition of streets : but those that were formed before 
were much better filled up. The new streets erected daring these 
ten years, were Temple-row, except about six houses. The north 
of Park-street, and of Dale-end ; also Slaney-street, and a small 
part of the east side of Snow-hill. 

From 1741, to the year 1781, Birmingham Seems to have ac- 
quired the amazing augmentation of seventy-one streets, 4172 
houses, and 25,032 inhabitants. Thus her internal property is co- 
vered with new-erected buildings, tier within tier. Thus she opens 
annually a new aspect to the traveller ; and thus she penetrates 
along the roads that surround her, as if to unite with the neigh- 
bo\n-ing towns, for tlieir improvement in commerce, in arts, and 
in civilization. 

I have often led my curious enquirer round Birmingham, but, 
like the thread round the swelling clue, never twice in the same 
track. We shall again examine her boundaries. Our former jour- 
ney commenced at tlie top of Snow-hill, we now set olT from the 
bottom. 

The buildings, in 1781, extended about forty yards beyond the 
Salutation, near the Wolverhampton-road. We turn up Lionel- 
street, leaving St. Paul's, and about three nev/-erected houses on 
the right ; pass close to New Hall, leaving it on tlie left, to tlie top 
of Great Charles-street, along Easy-hill ; we then leave the Wharf 
to the right, down Suffolk-street, in which are seventy houses, 
having two infant streets also to the right, in which are about 
twelve houses each, up to Ilolloway-head ; thence to Windmill- 
hill, Bow-street, Brick-kiln-lane, down to Lady- Well ; along Pud- 
ding-brook to the Moat, Lloyd's Slitting-mill, Digbetli ; over Deri- 

F 



34 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

tend Bridge ; tlien«e to the right for Cheapside ; cross the top of 
Bradford-street ; return by the Bridge, to Floodgate-street, Park- 
street, Bartholomew's Chapel, Grosvenor-street, Nova Scotia- street, 
Woodcock-lane, Aston-street, Lancaster-street, Staniforth-street, 
Price's-street, Bath-street, to the bottom of Snow-hill. 

The circle I have described is about five miles. There are also, 
beyond this crooked line, five clumps of houses belonging to Bir- 
mingham, which may be deemed hamlets. 

At the Sand-pits, upon the Dudley-road, about three furlongs 
from the buildings, are fourteen houses. 

Four furlongs from the Navigation Office, upon the road to 
Hales-Owen, are twenty-nine. 

One furlong from Exeter-row, towards the hand, are thirty- 
four. 

Upon Camp-hill, 130 yards from the junction of the Warwick 
and Coventry roads, which is the extremity of the present buildings, 
are thirty-one. 

And two furlongs from the town, in Walmer-lane, are seventeen 
more. 

Since my last journey round Birmingham, the reader and the 
writer have had a respite of ten years; we shall, therefore, in the 
present year, 1791, make exactly the same tour, and, with a critical 
exactness, observe what streets and houses have arisen, on our right, 
out of solitary fields. The cattle have been turned out of their 
pasture to make room for man, and the arts are planted where the 
daisy grew. These additions are so amazing, that even an author 
of veracity will barely meet belief. A city has been grafted upon 
a town ! Instead of Birmingham drawing her neighbourhood only, 
she seems to draw the world. 

I shall divide my examination into eight parts, according to the 
eight roads which proceed from her. I will omit the five hamlets, 
for, before I can mend my pen for another edition of this work, 
they will be united to the place. 

Between the Roads to JVolverhampton and Dudley, are, 

Houses. 

On the west side of Constitution-hill, extending to the 2 
first mile-stone . . . . S 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



35 









Houses. 


Falkner-street . . . . . . 15 


Kenyon-street 






70 


North wootl-street 






19 


Cock-street 






54 


Henrietta-street . 






60 


Mary-Ann-street .... 






52 


North end of Livery-street 






20<5 


Water-street 






81 


North of Church-street and Ludgate-hill 






47 


St. Paul's Square . 






62 


Caroline-street 






H 


Mount-street 






01 


Brook-street 






8 


James-street 






7 


North side of Lionel-street 






46 


North end of Newhall-street 






12 


Fleet-street 






104 


North side of Summer-row, between the t 


wo cana 


Is 


16 



977 

There were only three houses, March 14, 1779, in this division. 

By that day twelve-months they had increased to 55, and March 

14, 1781, they were 144. The same day in the present year (1791) 

there is an addition of 833. 

From the Dudley to the Bewdley Road. 

South side of Summer-row . . . . 18 

Crescent ....... 5 

King Edward's Place . .... 29 

North side of the Bewdley-road, extending to the canal . 5 



Between the Bewdley and the Bromsyrote Roads. 
South side of the road ..... 

Bridge-street ...... 

Wharf-street ...... 

Fordrough-slrcet ...... 



57 

7 

12 

122 

74 



36 



HltsTOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



Norfolk-street ..... 


41 


South end of Navigation-street . 


49 


Ditto of Cross-street .... 


15 


Gough-street ..... 


25 


Suffolk-street ..... 


297 


Little Hill-street ..... 


12 


South end of Bristol-street, beyond Inge-street . 


41 



695 



Deduct for 70 houses in Suffolk-street, and 24 in two infant 
streets ...... 



601 



Fro/)i the Broms^roce to the Coccntrij lload. 



North end of Bristol-street, east of Inge-street 




17 


Thorpe-street .... 


84 


Dean- street . . 




12 


Inge-street 






55 


Hurst-street 






14 


Bromsgrove-street 






39 


Balsall-street 






39 


Rea-street . 






44 


364 


From the Vocentnj to the Coleshill Road. 


Milk-street. . . . . . . 71 


Coventry-street . 






41 


Oxford-street 






30 


Bordesley-street . 






88 


Mountjoy-street . . 






41 


Canal-street 






13 


Fazeley-street 






21 


Bartholomew-street 






125 


South-side of Vauxhall-row 






20 


Watery-lane 






24 


Great Brook-street 






27 



IIIbTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



37 



Lawley-street 

Windsor-street 

Henry-street 

South-side of Mile End (Ashted) 



Houses. 

. 47 

. 55 

. 8 

. 94 



Between the Road to Coleslull and that to Lichjield. 



705 



West-side of Mile-end 


. 12 


Woodcock-lane .... 


. 87 


Leicester-street .... 


. 8 


Aston-road, East .... 


. 16 


Love-lane ..... 


. 23 


Duke-street . . 


. 47 


Prospect-row ..... 


. 32 




225 


Deduct for the 70 houses in Duke-street, kc. 


. 70 




155 


From the Lichjield to the Stajford Roac 


I. 


On the West of Lichfield-road 


. 32 


North end of Duke-street 


. 8 


York-street, North end 


. 9 


Addition to Staniforth-street . 


. 65 


Nell-street .... 


. 11 


Lancaster-street .... 


. 63 



From the Stafford to the JFolterluimpton Road. 
North side of Price's-street 
Summer-lane 
Hospital-street 
Hampton-street 
Bond-street 
St. Luke's-rovv to the Mile-stone 



188 



58 
70 
77 
9 
24 



242 



38 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



This great circle of streets, which has 
during the last ten years, will be found to 
3145. There must also have been erected in 
town 603 more, so that an augmentation 
and 20,470 inhabitants. 

The Hamlets of Deritend and Bordesley, which were chiefly one 
street in 1767, contain, 



surrounded Birmingham 

be 70, and the houses 

the internal parts of the 

taken place of 3,745, 













Houses. 


OntheEastendofDigbeth . . . . .40 


Mill-lane 








. 44 


The street called Deritend 








. 287 


Quality-row 








. 10 


Birchall-street 










. 77 


Lombard-street 










. 60 


Alcester-street 










. 94 


Brandy-row 










. 19 


Warwick-street 










. 28 


Bradford-street 










. 112 


Green-street 










. 25 


Cheapside 










. 108 


Moseley-street 










. 50 



954 
The whole of Deritend and Bordesley, in 1781, consisted of 5 
streets, 400 houses, and 2125 inhabitants. The streets are now 13, 
the houses 954, and the inhabitants 5013. Birmingham has there- 
fore added to her dimensions, during the last ten years, 78 streets, 
4299 houses, and 23,358 people. 

I shall comprize, in one view, the state of Birmingham in nine 
different periods ; and though some are imaginary, perhaps they are 
not far from real. 









Streets. 


Houses. 


Souls. 


the time of the ancient Britons 




80 


400 


A.D. 


750, 


. 


8 


600 


3000 


— 


1066, 


. 


9 


700 


3500 


— 


1650, 


- 


15 


900 


5472 


— 


1700, 


- 


28 


2504 


15,032 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 39 





Sti'eets. 


Houses. 


Souls. 


1731, 


51 


3717 


23,286 


1741, 


54 


4114 


24,660 


1781, 


125 


8382 


50,295 


1791, 


203 


12,681 


73,653 



A.D. 



In 1778, Birmingham, exclusive of the appendages, contained 
8042 houses, 48,252 inhahitants.* 

At the same time Manchester consisted of 3402 houses, and 22,440 
people. 

In 1779, Nottingham contained 3191 houses, and 17,711 souls. 

It is easy to see, without the spirit of prophecy, that Birmingham 
has not yet arrived at her zenith, neither is she likely to reach it for 
ages to come. Her increase will depend upon her manufactures ; 
her manufactures will depend upon the national commerce ; national 
commerce upon a superiority at sea; and this superiority may be 
extended to a long futurity. 

The interior parts of the town, are like those of other places, par- 
celled out into small freeholds, perhaps, originally purchased of the 
Lords of the Manor ; but, since its amazing increase, which began 
about the Restoration, large tracts of land have been huxtcred out 
upon building leases. Some of the first that were granted, seem to 
have been about Worcester and Colmore-streets, at the trifling an- 
nual price of one farthing per yard, or under. The market ran so 
much against the lessor, that the lesse had liberty to build in what 
manner he pleased ; and, at the expiration of the term, could remove 
the buildings unless the other chose to purchase them. But the 
market at this day is so altered, that the lessee gives six-pence per 
yard ; is tied to the mode of building, and obliged to leave the pre- 
mises in repair. 

The itch for building is predominant : we dip our fingers into 
mortar almost as soon as into business. It is not wonderful that a 
person should be hurt by the fall'mg of a house ; but, with us, a 



* So great has been the addition of the number of houses, that 
from 1700 to 1821, the increase was from 2504 to 17,323. 



40 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

man sometimes breaks his back by raism// one. T^iis private injury, 
however, is attended with a public benefit of the first magnitude; 
for every " House to he lef," holds forth a kind of invitation to the 
stranger to settle in it, who, being of the laborious class, promotes 
the manufactures. 

If we cannot produce many houses of the highest orders in archi- 
tecture, we make out the defect in numbers. Perhaps ifw?'e are 
erected here, in a given time, than in any place in the whole island, 
London excepted. It is remarkable, that in a town like Eirmingliam, 
where so many houses are built, the art of building is so little under- 
stood. The style of architecture of the inferior sort, is rather showy 
than lasting. The proprietor generally contracts for a house of cer- 
tain dimensions, at a stipulated price : this induces the artist to use 
some ingredients of the cheaper kind, and sometimes to try whether 
he can cement the materials with sand, instead of lime. But a house 
is not the only thing spoilt by the builder ; he frequently spoils 
himself: out of many succession of house-makers, I cannot recollect 
one who made a fortune. Many of these edifices have been brought 
forth, answered the purposes for which they were erected, and been 
buried in the dust, during my short acquaintance with Birmingham. 
One would think, if a man can survive a house, he has no great 
reason to complain of the shortness of life. From the external 
genteel appearance of a house, the stranger would be tempted to 
think the inhabitant possessed at least of a thousand pounds ; but, 
if he looks within, he sees only the ensigns of beggary. We have 
people, who enjoy four or five hundred pounds a year, in houses, 
none of which, perhaps, exceed six pounds per annum. It may 
excite a smile to say I have known two houses erected, one occu- 
pied by a man, his wife, and three children ; the other pair had 
four ; and twelve guineas covered every expense ! Pardon, my 
dear reader, the omission of a pompous encomium on their beauty 
or duration. 

I am inclined to think three-fourths of the houses in Birming- 
ham stand upon new foundations, and all the places of Worship, 
except Deritend Chapel. 

About the year 1730, Thomas Sherlock, late Bishop of London, 
purchased the private estate of the ladies of the manor, chieHy land. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 41 



me 



about four hundred per annum. In 1758, thl%teward told 
it had increased to twice the original value. The pious old Bishop 
was frequently solicited to grant building leases, but answered, 
" his land was valuable, and if built upon, his successor, at the ex- 
piration of the term, would have the rubbish to carry off;" he, 
therefore, not only refused, but prohibited his successor from grant- 
ing such leases. But Sir Thomas Gooch, who succeeded him, see- 
ing the great improvement of the neighbouring estates, and wisely 
judging fifty pounds per acre preferable to five, procured an act, in 
about 1766, to set aside the prohibiting clause in the Bishop's will ; 
since which a considerable town may be said to have been erected 
upon his property, now about £2400 per annum. 

An acquaintance assured me that, in 1756, he could have pur- 
chased the house he then occupied for £400, but refused. In 1770 
the same house was sold for £600, and, in 1772, 1 purchased it for 
eight hundred and thirty-five guineas, without any alteration, but 
what time had made for the worse ; and for this enormous price I 
had only an old house which I was obliged to take down. Such is 
the rapid improvement in value, of landed property, in a commer- 
cial country. Suffer me to add, though foreign to my subject, that 
these premises were the property of an ancient family of the name 
of Smith, now in decay ; were many centuries ago one of the first 
inns in Birmingham, and well known by the name of the Garland 
House, perhaps from the sign ; but, within memory. Potter's Coffee 
House, Under one part was a room about forty-five feet long, and 
fifteen wide, used for the town prison. In sinking a cellar we 
found a large quantity of tobacco-pipes of a singular construction, 
with some very antique earthenware, but no coin ; also loads of 
broken bottles, which refutes the complaint of our pulpits against 
modern degeneracy, and indicates the vociferous arts of getting 
drunk and breaking glass, were well understood by our ancestors. 
In penetrating a bed of sand, upon which had stood a workshop, 
about two feet below the surface, we came to a tumulus six feet 
long, three wide, and five deep, built very neat, with tiles laid flat, 
but no cement. The contents were mouldered wood, and pieces of 
human bone. 

I know of no house in Birmingham, the inns excepted, whose 



42 IIISTOUY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

annual rent exceeds ninety pounds. The united rents appear to be 
about one hundred thousand, which, if we take at twenty years' 
purchase, will compose a freehold of £2,000,000 value. 

The new erections I have described, with their appendages, cover 
about 300 acres. If we allow the contents of the manor to be 
2900, and deduct 900 for the town, 500 more for roads, water, 
and waste land, and rate the remaing 1500 at the average rent of 
£3 per acre, we shall raise an additional freehold of £4500 per 
annum. 

This landed property, at thirty years' purchase, will produce 
£135,000, and, united with the value of the buildings, the fee-sim- 
ple of this happy region of genius, will amount to £2,135,000. 



STREETS AND THEIR NAMES. 

We accuse our short-sighted ancestors, and with reason, for 
leaving us almost without a church-yard and a market-place ; for 
forming some of our streets nearly without width, and without 
light. 

Something, however, may be pleaded in excuse, for we should 
ever plead the cause of the absent, by observing, the concourse of 
people was small, therefore a little room would suffice ; and the 
buildings were low, so that light would be less obstructed : be- 
sides, as the increase of the town was slow, the modern augmenta- 
tion coidd not then be discovered through the dark medium of 
time ; but the prospect into futurity is, at this day, rather brighter; 
for we plainly see, and perhaps with more reason, succeeding gene- 
rations will blame us for neglect. We possess the power to reform, 
without the will ; why else do we suffer enormities to grow which 
will have taken deep root in another age ? If utility and beauty 
can he joined together, in the street, why are they ever put asun- 
der ? It is easy for Birmingham to be as rapid in her improve- 
ment as in her growth. 

We have more reason to accuse ourselees of neglect than our an- 
cestors, for we cherish all their blunders in street-making, and upon 
these we graft our own. The inhabitants of Birmingham may justly 



HISTORY OF BIHMINGHAM. 43 

be styled masters of invention ; the arts are obedient to their 
will. But if genius displays herself in the shops, she is seldom 
seen in the streets. Though we have long practiced the art of 
making streets, we have an art to learn ; tliere is not a street in the 
whole town but might have been better constructed. 

When land is appropriated for a street, the builders are under no 
controul ; every lessee proceeds according to his interest or fancy ; 
there is no man to preserve order or prescribe bounds ; hence arise 
evils without a cure — such as a narrowness, whicli scarcely admits 
light, cleanliness, pleasure, health, or use ; unnecessary hills, like 
that in Bull-street; sudden falls, owing to the floor of one house 
being laid three feet lower than the next, as in Coleshill-street ; one 
side of a street like the deck of a ship, gunnel-to, several feet higher 
than the other, as in Snow-hill, New-street, Friday-street, Paradise- 
street, Lionel-street, Suffolk-street, Brick-kiln-lane, and Great 
Charles-street. Hence, also, that crowd of enormous bulk sashes ; 
steps projecting from the houses and the cellar ; buildings which, 
like men at a dog-fight, seem rudely to crowd before each other ; 
penthouses, rails, palisades, &,c., which have long called for redress. 

Till the year, 1769, when the Lamp Act was obtained, there were 
only two powers able to correct these evils — the lord of the manor 
and the freeholders — neither of which were exerted. The lord was 
so far from preserving the rights of the public, that he himself be- 
came the chief trespasser. He connived at small encroachments in 
others to countenance his own. Others trespassed like little rogues, 
but he like a lord. In 1728, he seized a public building, called the 
Leather Hall, and converted it to his private use. George Davis, 
the constable, summoned the inhabitants to vindicate their right ; 
but none app-aaring, the lord smiled at their supineness and kept the 
property. In about 1745, he took possession of the Bull-ring, their 
little market-place, and began to build it up ; but, although the 
people did not brmg their action, they did not sleep as before, for 
they undid in the night what he did in the day. In 1758, when 
the houses at No. 3, were erected, in that extreme narrow part of 
Bull-street, near the Welch Cross, the proprietor, emboldened by 
repeated neglects, chose to project half a yard beyond his bounds. 
But a private inhabitant, who \\as an attorney, a bully, and a free- 



4f HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

liolder, with his own hands, and a few hearty curses, demolished 
the building, and reduced the builder to order. But though the 
freeholders have power over all encroachments within memory, yet 
this is the only instance upon record of the exertion of that power. 

The town consists of about 200 streets, some of which acquired 
their names from a variety of causes, but some from no cause, and 
others have not yet acquired a name. Those of Bull-street, Cannon- 
street, and London 'Prentice-street, from the signs of their respective 
names. The first of these, was originally Chapel-street, from a 
Chapel belonging to the Priory which covered that ground. Some 
receive their names from the proprietors of the land, as Smallbroke- 
street, Freeman-street, Cohnore-street, Slaney-street, Weaman-street, 
Bradford-street, Colmore-row, Philip-street, and Bell-street. Dig- 
beth, or Duck's Bath, from the pools for accommodating that ani- 
mal, was originally Well-street, from the many springs in its neigh- 
bourhood. Others derive a name from caprice, as Jamaica-row, 
John and Thomas's-streets. Some from a desire of imitating the 
metropolis, as, Fleet-street, Snow-hill, Ludgate-hill, Cheapside, and 
Friday-street. Some again from local causes, as High-street, from 
its elevation, St. Martin's-lane, Church-street, Cherry-street, origi- 
nally an orchard. Chapel-street, Bartholomew-row, Masshouse-lane, 
Old and New Meeting-streets, Steelhouse-lane, Temple-row and 
Temple-street, also Pinfold-street, from a Pinfold at No. 85, removed 
in 1 752. — Moor-street, anciently Mole-street, from the eminence on 
one side, or the declivity on the other. Park- street seems to have 
acquired its name by being appropriated to the private use of the 
Lord of the Manor, and, except at the narrow end next Digbeth, 
contained only the corner house to the south, entering Shut-lane, 
No. 82, lately taken down, which was called the Lodge. Spiceal- 
street, anciently Mercer-street, from the number of mercers shops ; 
and as the professors of that trade dealt in grocery, it was promis- 
cuously called Spicer-street. The present name is only a corruption 
of the last. The spot, now the Old Hinkleys, was a field, till about 
1720, in which horses were shewn at the fair, then held in Edgbaston- 
street. It was since a brick-yard, and contained only one hut, in 
which the brick-maker slept. The tincture of the smoaky shops, 
with all their hlack furniture , for welding gun barrels, which after- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 45 

wards appeared on the back of Smallbroke-street, might occasion the 
original name Inkleys ; ink is well known ; leys, is of British deri- 
vation, and means grazing ground ; so that the etymology perhaps 
is Black pasture. The Butts, a mark to shoot at, when the bow 
was a fashionable instrument of war, which the artist of Birmingham 
knew well how to make, and to use. Gosta-green (Goose-stead) a 
name of great antiquity, now in decline; once a track of commons, 
circumscribed by the Stafford-road, now Stafford-street ; the roads 
to Lichfield and Coleshill, now Aston and Coleshill-streets, and 
extending to Duke-street, the boundary of the manor. Perhaps, 
many ages after, it was converted into a farm, and was, within 
memory, possessed by a person of the name of Tanter, whence Tan- 
ter-street. 

Sometimes a street fluctuates between two names, as that of Catha- 
rine and Wittal, which at length terminated in favour of the former.* 
Thus the name of Great George and Great Charles stood candidates 
for one of the finest streets in Birmingham, which after a contest of 
two or three years, was carried in favour of the latter. Others receive 
a name from the places to which they direct, as Worcester-street, 
Edgbaston-street, Dudley-street, Lichfield-street, Aston-street, Staf- 
ford-street, Coleshill-street, and Alcester-street. 

A John Cooper, the same person who stands in the list of donors 
in St. Martin's church, and who, I apprehend, lived about two hun- 
dred and fifty years ago, at the Talbot, No. 20, in the High-street, 
left about four acres of land, between Steelhouse-lane, St. Paul's 
chapel, and Walmer-lane, to make love-days for the people of Bir- 
mingham ; hence Loveday -croft. Various sounds from the trowel 
upon the premises, in 1758, produced the name of Loveday -street 
(corrupted into Lovely-street.) This croft is part of an estate under 
the care of the Lench's Trust ; and, at the time of the bequest, was 
probably worth no more than ten shillings per annum. At the top 
of Walmer-lane, which is the North East comer of this croft, stood 
about half a dozen old alms houses, perhaps erected in the begin- 
ning of the seventeenth century, then at a considerable distance from 
the town. These were taken down in 1764, and the present alms 
houses, which are thirty-six, erected near the spot, at the expence 
of the trust, to accommodate the same number of poor widows, who 

* Now Whittall-street. 



46 PIISTOIIY OF BIRMINGHA.M. 

have each a small annual stipend, for the supply of coals. This John 
Cooper, for some services rendered to the lord of the manor, obtained 
three priviliges, that of regulating the goodness and prices of beer ; 
consequently he stands in the front of the whole liquid race of high 
tasters ! that he should, whenever he pleased, beat a bull in the 
Bull-ring, v/hence arises the name ; and, that he should be allowed 
interment in the south porch of St . Martin's church. His memory 
ought to be transmitted with honour to posterity, for promoting the 
harmony of his neighbourhood, but he ought to have been buried 
in a dunghill for punishing an inncent animal. His wife seems to 
have survived him, who also became a benefactress ; is recorded in 
the same list, and their monument, in antique sculpture, is yet visible 
in the porch. 

TRADE. 

Perhaps there is not by nature, so much ditferencein tlie capacities 
of men as by education. The elForts of nature will produce a ten- 
fold crop in the field, but those of art, fifty. 

Perhaps too, the seeds of every virtue, vice, inclination, and habit, 
are sown in the breast of every human being, though not in an equal 
degree. Some of these lie dormant for ever, no hand inviting their 
cultivation. Some are called into existence by their own internal 
strength, and others by the external powers that surround them. 
Some of these seeds flourishmore, some less, according to the aptness 
of the soil, and the modes of assistance. We are not to suppose 
infancy the only time in which these scions spring, no part of life is 
exempt. I knew a man who lived to the age of forty, totally regard- 
less of music. A fiddler happened to have apartments near his 
abode, attracted his ear by frequent exhibitions, which produced a 
growing inclination for that favourite science, and he became a pro- 
ficient himself. Thus, in advanced periods, a man may fall in love 
with a science, a woman, or a bottle. Thus avarice is said to shoot 
up in ancient soil; and thus, I myself bud forth in history at fifty-six. 

The cameleon is said to receive a tincture from the colour of the 
object that is nearest to him ; but the human mind in reality receives 
a bias from its connexions. Link a man to the pulpit, and he cannot 
proceed to any great lengths in profligate life. Enter him into the 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 47 

army, and he will endeavour to swear himself into consequence. 
Make the man of humanity an overseer of the poor, and he will 
quickly find the tender feelings of commisseration hardened. Make 
him a surgeon, and he will amputate a leg with the same indifference 
with which a cutler saws a piece of hone for a knife handle. Make 
him a physician, and he will be the only person upon the premises, 
the heir excepted, unconcerned at the prospect of death. You com- 
mit a rascal to prison because he merits transportation, but by the 
time he comes out he merits a halter. By uniting also with industry 
we become industrious. It is easy to give instances of people whose 
distinguishing characteristic was idleness, hut when they breathed 
the air of Birmingham, diUgence became the predominant fea- 
tiirc. The view of profit, like the view of corn to the hungry horse, 
excites to action. Thus the various seeds scattered bv nature into 
the soul at its first formation, either lie neglected, are urged into in- 
crease by their own powers, or are drawn towards maturity by the 
concurring circumstances that attend them. 

The late Mr. Grenville observed, in the House of Commons, " That 
commerce tended to con-uptthe morals of a people." If we examine 
the expression, we shall find it true in a certain degree, beyond which 
tends to improve them. 

Perhaps every tradesman can furnish out numberless instances 
of small deceit. His conduct is marked with a littleness, which, 
though allowed by general consent, is not strictly just. A person 
with whom I have long been connected in business, asked, if I had 
dealt with his relation, whom he had brought up, and who had lately 
entered into commercial life. I answered in the affirmative. He 
replied, " He is a very honest fellow." I told him I saw all the 
finesse of a tradesman about him. " Oh, rejoined my friend, a man 
has a right to say all he can in favour of his own goods." Nor is the 
seller alone culpahle. The huyer takes an equal share in the decep- 
tion. Though neither of them speak their sentiments, they well 
understand each other. Whilst a treaty is agitating, the profit of a 
tradesman vanishes, yet the buyer pronounces against the article ; 
but when finished, the seller whispers his friend, " It is well sold," 
and the buyer smiles it a bargain. Thus is the commercial track a 
line of minute deceits. 



48 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

But, on the other hand, it does not seem possible for a man in 
trade to pass this line without wrecking his reputation ; which, if 
once broken, can never be made whole. The character of a trades- 
man is valuable, it is his all ; therefore, whatever seeds of the vi- 
cious kind shoot forth in the mind, are carefully watched, and 
nipped in the bud, that they may never blossom into action. 

Having stated the accounts between morality and trade, I shall 
leave the reader to draw the balance, and only ask whether the 
people in trade are more corrupt than those out ? If the curious 
reader will lend an attentive ear to a pair of farmers in the market, 
bartering for a cow, he will find as much dissimulation as at St. 
James's, but couched in homelier phrase. The man of well-bred 
deceit is " infinitely your friend — it would give him immeyise plea- 
sure to serve you !" Deception is an innate principle of the human 
heart, not peculiar to one man, or one profession. Having occasion 
for a horse, in 1759, I mentioned it to an acquaintance, and informed 
him the uses ; he assured me he had one that would exactly suit, 
which he showed in the stable, and held the candle pretty high for 
fear of affecting the straw. I told him it was needless to examine 
him, for I should rely upon his word, being conscious he was too 
much my friend to deceive me ; therefore bargained, and caused 
him to be sent home. But, by the light of the sun, which next 
morning illumined the heavens, I perceived the horse was greased 
on all fours. I, therefore, in gentle terms, upbraided my friend with 
duplicity, when he replied with some warmth, " I would cheat my 
own brother in a horse." Had this honourable friend stood a 
chance of selling me a horse once a week, his own interest would 
have prevented him from deceiving me. 

A man enters into business with a view of acquiring a fortune — 
a laudable motive ! That property which rises from honest industry, 
is an honour to its owner ; the repose of his age, the reward of a 
life of attention ; but, great as the advantage seems, yet, being of a 
private nature, it is one of the least in the mercantile walk. For 
the intercourse occasioned by traffic, gives a man a view of the 
world and of himself ; removes the narrow limits that confine his 
judgment, expands the mind, opens his understanding, removes his 
prejudices, and polishes his manners. Civility and humanity are 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. -19 

ever the companions of trade ; the man of business is the man of 
liberal sentiment ; a barbarous and commercial people, is a contra- 
diction ; if he is not the philosopher of nature, he is the friend of 
his country. Even the men of inferior life among us, whose occu- 
pations, one would think, tend to produce minds as callous as the 
metal they work, lay a stronger claim to civilization than in any 
other place with which I am acquainted. 

It is singular, that a predilection for Birmingham is entertained 
by every denomination of visitants, from Edward, Duke of York, 
who saw us in 1765, down to the presuming quack, who, gri^^ed 
with necessity, boldly discharges his filth from the stage. A pa- 
viour, of the name of O'Brian, assured me, in 1750, that he only 
meant to sleep one night in Birmingham, in his way from London 
to Dublin. But instead of pursuing his journey next morning, as 
intended, he had continued in the place thirty-five years ; and though 
fortune had never elevated him above the pebbles of the street, he 
had never repented his stay. 

It has already been remarked, that I first saw Birmingham in 
1741, accidentally cast into those regions of civility, equally un- 
known to every inhabitant, nor had the least idea of becoming one 
myself. Though the reflections of an untaught youth of seventeen 
cannot be striking, yet, as they were purely natural, permit me to 
describe them. 

I had been before acquainted with two or three principal towns. 
The environs of all I had seen were composed of wretched dwellings, 
replete with dirt and poverty ; but the buildings in the exterior of 
Birmingham, rose in a style of elegance. Thatch, so plentiful in 
other towns, was not to be met with in this. I was much sur- 
prised at the place, but more at the people ; they were a species I 
had never seen ; they possessed a vivacity I had never beheld ; I 
had been among dreamers, but now I saw men awake ; their very 
step along the street showed alacrity. I had been taught to con- 
sider the whole twenty-four hours as appropriated for sleep, but I 
found a people satisfied with only half that number. My intended 
stay, like O'Brian's, was one night ; but, struck with the place, I 
was unwilling to leave it. I could not avoid remarking, that if the 
people of Birmingham did not suflfer themselves to sleej? in the 



50 niSTOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

streets, they did not sufFer others to sleep in their beds; for I was, 
earh morning, by three o'clock, saluted with a circle of hammers. 
Every man seemed to know and to prosecute his own affairs ; the 
town was large, and full of inhabitants, and those inhabitants full 
of industry. I had seen faces elsewhere tinctured with an idle 
gloom, void of meaning, but here with a pleasing alertness. Their 
ap[>earance was strongly marked with the modes of civil life : I 
mixed with a variety of company, chiefly of the lower ranks, and 
rather as a silent spectator. I was treated with an easy freedom by 
all, and with marks of fiivour by some. Hospitality seemed to 
claim this happy people for her own, though I knew not from what 
cause. I did not meet with this treatment, in 1770, twenty-nine 
years after, at Bosworth, where I accompanied a gentleman, with no 
other intent than to view the field celebrated for the fall of Richard 
the Third. The inhabitants enjoyed the cruel satisfaction of set- 
ting their dogs at us in the street, merely beausa we were strangers. 
Thus, it appears, that characters are influenced by profission ; 
— that the great advantage of private fortune, and the greater to so- 
ciety, of softening and forming the mind, are the result of trade. — 
But these are not the only benefits that flow from this desirable 
spring. It opens the hand of charity to the assistance of distress ; 
witness the Hospital and the Charity Schools, supported by annual 
donation : it adds to the national security by supplying the taxes 
for internal use and for the prosecution of war. It adds to that 
security, by furnishing the inhabitants with riches which they are 
ever anxious to preserve, even at the risk of their lives ; for the 
preservation of private wealth, tends to the preservation of the state. 
It augments the value of landed property, by multiplying the num- 
ber of purchasers ; it produces money to improve that land into a 
higher state of cultivation, which ultimately redounds to general 
benefit by affording plenty ; it unites bodies of men in social com- 
pact, for their mutual interest ; it adds to the credit and pleasure of 
individuals, by enabling them to purchase entertainment and im- 
provement, both of the corporeal and intellectual kind. It finds 
employment for the hand that would otherwise be found in mis- 
chief; and it elevates the cliaracter of u nation in the scale of go- 
vernment. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 51 

Birmingham, by her commercial consequence, has, of late, justly 
assumed the liberty of nominating one of the representatives for the 
county; and, to her honour, the elective body never regretted her 
choice. In that memorable contest of 1774, we were almost, to a 
man, of one mind. If an odd dozen amongst us, of a different 
mould, did not assimilate with the rest, they were treated, as men 
of free judgment should ever be treated, with civility, and the line 
of harmony was not broken. If this little treatise happens to travel 
into some of our corporate places where the fire of contention, blown 
by the breath of party, is kept alive during seven years, let them 
cast a second glance over the above remark. 

Some of the first words after the creation, inci'ease and multiply, 
ar*; applicable to Birmingham ; but as her own people are insuflS- 
cient for the manufactures, she demands assistance for two or three 
miles round her. In our early morning walks, on every road pro- 
ceeding from the town, we meet the sons of diligence returning to 
business, and bringing in the same dusky smuts which, the evening 
before, they took out. But, though they appear of a darkish com- 
plexion, we may consider it is the property of every metal to sully 
the user ; money, itself, has the same effect, and yet he deems it no 
disgrace who is daubed by fingering it ; the disgrace lies with him 
wJio has none to finger. Fashions mark all the degrees of men. 
This industrious race are distinguished by a black beard on Satur- 
day night, and a white shirt on Monday morning. 

The profits arising from labour, to the lower orders of men, seem 
to surpass those of other mercantile places. This is not only visi- 
ble in the manufactures peculiar to Birmingham, but in the more 
common occupations of the barber, tailor, shoemaker, kc. who bask 
in the rays of plenty. 

It is entertaining to the curious observer to contemplate the vari- 
ation of things. We know of nothing, either in the natural or mo- 
ral world, that continues in the same state. From a number of 
instances that might be adduced, permit me to name one — that of 
money. This, considered in the abstract, is of little or no value ; 
but, by the common consent of mankind, is erected into a general 
arbitrator to fix a value upon all others ; a medium through which 
every thing passes; a balance by which they must be weighed; a 



52 HISTOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

touchstone to which they must be applied to find their worth : 
though we can neither eat nor drink it, we can neither eat nor drink 
without it. He that has none best knows its use. 

It has long been a complaint, that the same quantity of this me- 
dium — money, will not produce so much of the necessaries of life, 
particularly food, as heretofore; or, in other words, that provisions 
have been gradually rising for many ages, and that the shilling, 
which formerly supported the laborious family a whole week, will 
not now support it one day. 

In times of remarkable scarcity, such as those in 1728, 41, 56, 
66, and 74, the press abounded with publications on the subject ; 
but none, which I have seen, reached the question, though short. 
It is of no consequence, whether a bushel of corn sells for sixpence 
or six sliillings, but, what time a man must labour before he can 
earn one ? If, by. the moderate labour of thirty-six hours, in the 
reign of Henry the Third, he could acquire a groat, which woidd 
purchase a bushel of wheat ; and if, in the reign of George the Third, 
he works the same number of hours for eight shillings, which will 
make the same purchase, the balance is exactly even. If, by our 
commercial concerns with the eastern and the western worlds, the 
kingdom abounds with bullion, money must be cheaper ; therefore 
a larger quantity is required to perform the same use. If money 
would go as far now as in the days of Henry the Third, a journey- 
man in Birmingham might amass a fortune. 

Whether provisions abound more or less ? and whether the poor 
fare better or worse, in one period than the other ? Are also ques- 
tions dependent upon trade, and therefore worth investigating. 

If the necessaries of life abound more in this reign, than in that of 
Henry the Third, we cannot pronounce them dearer. Perhaps it 
will not be absurd to suppose, that the same quantity of land, di- 
rected by the superior hand of cultivation, in the eighteenth century, 
will yield twice the produce, as by the ignorant management of the 
thirteenth. We may suppose also, by the vast number of new 
inclosures which have annually taken place since the Revolution, 
that twice the quantity of land is brought into cultivation : It fol- 
lows, that four times the quantity of provisions is raised from the 
earth, that was raised under Henry the Third ; which will leave a 



HISTORY OF BIEMINGIIAM. 53 

large surplus in hand, after we have deducted for additional luxury, 
a greater number of consumers, and for exportation. This extraor- 
dinary stock is a security against famine, which our forefathers 
severely felt. It will be granted, that in both periods the worst of 
the meat was used by the poor. By the improvements in agricul- 
ture, the art of feeding cattle is well understood, and much in prac- 
tice ; as the land improves, so will the beast that feeds upon it : 
If the productions, therefore, of the slaughter house, in this age, 
surpass those of Henry the Third, then the fare of the poor is at least 
as much superior now, as the worst of fat meat is superior to the 
worst of lean. The poor inhabitants in that day, found it difficult 
to procure bread ; but in this, they sometimes add cream and butter. 

Thus it appears, that through the amazing variation of things a 
balance is preserved : that provisions have not advanced in price, 
but are more plentiful ; and that the lower class of men have found 
in ti-ade, that intricate, but beneficial clue, which guides them into 
the confines of luxury. 

Provisions and the manufactures, like a pair of scales, will not 
preponderate together ; but as weight is applied to the one, the other 
will advance. As labour is irksome to the body, a man will perform 
no more of it than necessity obliges him ; it follows, that in those 
times when plenty preponderates, the manufactures tend to decay : 
For if a man can support his family with three days' labour, he will 
not work six. 

As the generality of men will perform no more work than produces 
a maintenance, reduce that maintenance to half the price, and they 
will perform but half the work : Hence half the commerce of a na- 
tion is destroyed at one blow, and what is lost by one kingdom will 
be recovered by another, in rivalship. A commercial people, there- 
fore, will endeavour to keep provisions at a superior rate, yet within 
reach of the poor. It follows also, that luxury is no way detrimen- 
tal to trade ; for we frequently observe ability and industry exerted 
to support it. 

The practice of the Birmingham manufacturer, for, perhaps, a 
hundred generations, was to keep within the warmth of his own 
forge. The foreign customer, therefore, applied to him for the exe- 
cution of orders, and regularly made his appearance twice a year; 



54 IIISTOKY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

and though this mode of busine'^s is not totally extinguished, yet a 
vei-y different one is adopted. The merchant stands at the head of 
the manufecture, purchases his produce, and travels the whole 
island to promote the sale ; a practice that would have astonished 
our forefathers. The commercial spirit of the age, has penetrated 
beyond the confines of Britain, and explored the whole continent of 
Europe; nor docs it stop there, for the West-Indies, and the Ameri- 
can world, are intimately acquainted with the Birmingham merchant; 
and nothing but the exclusive command of the East India Company 
over the Asiatic trade, prevents our riders from treading upon the 
heels of each other in the streets of Calcutta. To this modern con- 
duct of Birmingham, in sending her sons to tb.e foreign market, I 
ascribe the chief cause of her rapid increase. 

By the poor's books it appears, there are not four thousand houses 
in Birmingham, that pay the parochial rates ; whilst there are more 
than seven thousand that do not.* Hence we see what an amazing 
number of the laborious part of mankind are among us. This valu- 
able class of the creation, are the prop of the remainder. They are 
the rise and support of our commerce. From this fountain we draw 
our lu.Yuries and our pleasures. They spread our tables, and oil the 
wheels of our carriages. They are the riches and the defence of the 
country. How necessary then is it to direct with prudence, the 
rough passions of this important race, and make them subservient to 
the great end of civil society. Let us survey the man, who begins 
life at the lowest ebb, without property, or any other advantage but 
that of his own prudence. He comes, by length of time and very 
minute degrees, from being directed himself, to have the direction 
of others. He quits the precincts of servitude, and enters the do- 
minions of command. He laboured for others, but now others labour 
for him. Should the whole race, therefore, possess the same pru- 
dence, they would all become masters. Where then could be found 
the servant ? Who is to perform the manual part? Who is to execute 
the orders of the merchant? A world consisting only of masters, is 
like a monster consisting only of a head. We know that the head is 
no more than the leading power, the members are equally necessary. 



This was written about forty years ago. 



HISTORY OF EIIIMINGIIAM. 55 

And as one member is placed in a more elevated state than another, 
so are the ranks of men, tliat no void may be left. The hands and 
the feet were designed to execute the drudgery of life, the head for 
direction, and all are suitable in their sphere. 

If we turn the other side of the picture, we shall see a man born in 
affluence, take the reins of direction, biit like Phneton, not being able 
to guide them, blunders on from mischief to mischief, till he involves 
-himself in destruction, comes prone to the earth, and many are 
injured uitli his fall. From directing the bridle he submits to the 
bit; seeks for bread in the shops, the line designed him by nature ; 
where his hand becomes callous with the file, and where, for the 
first time in his life, he becomes useful to an injured society. Thus, 
from imprudence, folly, and vice, is produced poverty , — poverty 
produces labour ; from labour arise the manufactures ; and from 
these, the riches of a country, with all their train of benefits. 

Capacity is not quite so necessary to carry on busines as a turn 
of mind suited to the occasion. Most trades may be conducted 
with very little brains. I have known many a pretty fortune ac- 
quired by many a weak head ; nay, I have sometimes been tempted 
to question whether genius is not an enemy to success. It is apt to 
soar above the low grovellings of a mechanical shop. The man of 
genius may acquire fame, but the plodder acquires money. 

We have a middle class, which is one of the most amiable cha- 
racters among us ; a character very little noticed, but very common 
— that of ^faithful servant. A flower is not the less beautiful be- 
cause it blows unheeded in the field, or a gem the less valuable, be- 
cause never exhibited to the world. In them the eye of attention 
wakes for another ; the still tides of ambition never disturb the 
mounds of contentment, I could give a list of these silent worthies 
as long as that of our chief officers. He who finds one, finds hid- 
den treasures. 

It would be difficult to enumerate the great variety of trades 
practised in Birmingham, neither would it give pleasure to the 
reader. Some of them spring up with the expedition of a blade of 
grass, and, like that, wither in a summer. If some are lastin"-, like 
the sun, others seem to change with the moon. Invention is ever 
at work. Idleness, the manufactory of scandal, with the numerous 



55 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

occupations connected with the cotton, the linen, the silk, and the 
woollen trades, are little known among us. 

Birmingham began with the productions of the anvil and proba- 
bly will end with them. The sons of the hammer were once her 
chief inhabitants ; but that great crowd of artists is now lost in a 
greater ; genius seems to increase with multitude. Part of the 
riches, extension, and improvement of Birmingham, are owing to 
the late John Taylor, Esq., who possessed the singular powers of 
perceiving things as they really were. The spring and consequence 
of action were open to his view ; him we may justly deem the Shak- 
spear or Newton of his day. He rose, from minute beginnings, to 
shine in the commercial hemisphere, as they in the poetical and 
philosophical. Imitation is part of the human character. An ex- 
ample of such eminence in himself, promoted exertion in others, 
which, whea prudence guided the helm, led on to fortune ; but the 
bold adventurer, who crowded sail without ballast and without 
rudder, has been known to overset the vessel and sink insolvent. — 
To this uncommon genius we owe the gilt button, the japanned and 
gilt snuff-boxes, with the numerous race of enamels. From the 
game fountain issued the painted snufF-box, at which one servant 
earned three pounds ten shillings per week, by painting them at a 
farthing each. In his shop were weekly manufactured, buttons to 
the amount of £800, exclusive of other valuable productions. One 
of the present nobility, of distinguished taste, examining the works 
with the master, purchased some of the articles ; among others, a 
toy of eighty guineas value, and, while paying for them, observed, 
with a smile, " he plainly saw he could not reside in Birmingham 
for less than two hundred pounds a day." — Mr. Taylor died in 
1775, at the age of 64, after acquiring a fortune of £200,000. 

The active powers of genius, the instigation of profit, and the afii- 
nity of one calling to another, often induce the artist to change his 
occupation. There is nothing more common among us ; even the 
divine and the lawyer are prone to this change. Thus the church 
throws her dead weight into the scale of commerce, and the law 
gives up the cause of contention ; but there is nothing more dis- 
graceful, next to thieving, in other places, "I am told," says an 
elderly gentleman, as he amused himself in a pitiful bookseller's 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 57 

shop in a wi-etched market town, " that you are a stocking-maker 
by trade !"' The humble bookseller, half confused, and wholly 
ashamed, could not deny the charge. "Ah," cried the senior, 
whose features were modelled between the sneer and the smile, 
" there is neither honour or profit in changing the trade you were 
bred to. Do not attempt to sell books, but stay at home, and pur- 
sue your own business." But the dejected bookseller, scarcely one 
step higher than a walking stationer^ lived to acquire a fortune of 
£20,000, Had he followed the senior's advice, he might, like a 
common foot soldier, have starved upon eight pence a day.* 

The toy trades first made their appearance in Birmingham, in the 
beginning of Charles the Second's reign, in an amazing variety, at- 
tended with all their beauties and their graces. The first, in pre- 
eminence, is the 

BUTTON. 

This beautiful ornament appears with infinite variation ; and 
though the original date is rather uncertain, yet we well remember 
the long coats of our grandfathers covered with half a gross of high- 
tops, and the cloaks of our grandmothers ornamented with a horn 
button, nearly the size of a crown-piece, a watch, or a John-apple, 
curiously wrought, as having passed through the Birmingham 
press. 

Though the common round button keeps on with the steady pace 
of the day, yet we sometimes see the oval, the square, the pea, and 
the pyramid, flash into existence. In some branches of traffic the 
wearer calls loudly for new fashions ; but in this, the fashions tread 
upon each other, and crowd upon the wearer. The consumption of 
this article is astonishing, and the value, from three-pence a gross, 
to one hundred and forty guineas. There seems to be hidden trea- 
sures couched within this magic circle, known only to a few, who 
extract prodigious fortunes out of this useful toy, whilst a far greater 
number submit to a statute of bankruptcy. Trade, like a restive 
horse, can rarely be managed ; for, where one is carried to the end 



Mr. HuTTON, in this passage, refers to himself. 
I 



58 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of a successful journey, many are thrown off by the way. The next 
that calls our attention is the 

BUCKLE. 

Perhaps the shoe, in one form or other, is nearly as ancient as 
the foot. It originally appeared under the name of sandal ; this 
was no other than a sole without an upper leather. That fashion 
has since been inverted ; and we now, sometimes, see an upper lea- 
ther nearly without a sole : but, whatever was the cut of the shoe, 
it always demanded a fastening. Under the House of Plantagenet, 
it shot horizontally from the foot, like a Dutch skait, to an enor- 
mous length, so that the extremity was fastened to the knee, some- 
times with a silver chain, a silk lace, or even a pacVthread string, 
rather than avo'\d genteel taste. 

This thriving beak drew the attention of the legislature, who were 
determined to prune the exorbitant shoot; for, in 1465, we find an 
Order of Council, prohibiting the growth of the shoe toe to more 
than two inches, under the penalty of a dreadful curse from the 
priest, and, which was worse, the payment of twenty shillings to the 
king. 

This fashion, like every other, gave way to time, and in its stead, 
the rose began to bud upon the foot, which, under the House of 
Tudor, opened in great perfection. No shoe was fashionable, with- 
out being fastened with a full blown rose. Ribands of every colour, 
except white, the emblem of the depressed House of York, were 
had in esteem ; but the red like the House of Lancaster, held the 
pre-eminence. Under the House of Stuart, the rose withered, which 
gave rise to the shoe-string. The beaux of that age, ornamented 
their lower tier with double laces of silk, tagged with silver, and the 
extremities were beautified with a small fringe of the same metal. 
The inferior class, wore laces of plain silk, linen, or even a thong of 
leather ; which last is yet to be met with in the humble plains of 
rural life. But I am inclined to think the artists of Birmingham 
had no great hand in fitting out the beau of the last century. 

The revolution was remarkable for the introduction of the minute 
buckle, not differing in size and shape from the horse bean. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 59 

This offspring of fancy, like the clouds, is ever changing. The 
fashion of to-day is thrown into the casting pot to-morrow. 

The buckle seems to have undergone every figure, size, and 
shape of geometrical invention : it has passed through every form 
in the whole zodiac of Euclid. The large square buckle, plated 
with silver, is the ton of the present day.* The ladies also, have 
adopted the reigning taste. It is difficult to discover tlieir beautiful 
little feet, covered with an enormous shield of buckle; and we 
wonder to see the active motion under the massy load. Thus the 
British fair support the manufactures of Birmingham, and thus they 
kill by weight of metal. 

GUNS. 

Though the sword and the gun are equal companions in war, it 
does not appear they are of equal antiquity. I have already observ- 
ed, that the sword was the manufactory of Birmingham in the time 
of the Britons. But tradition tells us. King William was once 
lamenting, " That guns wei*e not manufactured in his dominions, 
but that he was obliged to procure them from Holland at a great 
expence, and greater difficulty." Sir Richard Newdigate, one of 
the Members for the County, being present, told the King, " That 
Genius resided in Warwickshire, and that he thought his consti- 
tuents could answer his Majesty's wishes." The King was pleased 
with the remark, and the Member posted to Birmingham. Upon 
application to a person in Digbeth, whose name I forget, the pattern 
was executed with precision, which, when presented to the Royal 
Board, gave entire satisfaction. Orders were immediately issued 
for large numbers, which have been so frequently repeated, that they 
never lost their road ;f and the ingenious manufacturers have been 



* The manufacture of buckles has been extinct many years. This 
is much to be regretted ; for it was a branch of the Birmingham 
trade which supported some hundreds of families. We hope ere 
long to see this useful and ornamental article again in general use. 

f After the revolution of France, when England was threatened 
with an invasion, such was the demand for guns that this country 



60 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

so amply rewarded, that they have rolled in their carriages to this 
day. Thus the same instrument which is death to one man is gen- 
teel life to another, 

LEATHER. 

It may seem singular to a modern eye to view this place in the 
light of one vast tan-yard. Though there is no appearance of that 
necessary article among us, yet Birmingham was once a famous 
market for leather. Digbeth not only abounded with tanners, but 
large numbers of hides arrived weekly for sale, where the whole 
country found a supply. When the weather M'ould allow, they 
were ranged in columns in the High-street, and at other times de- 
posited in the Leather Hall, at the east end of New-street, appropri- 
ated for their reception. 

This market was of great antiquity, pei-haps not less than seven 
hundred years, and continued till the beginning of the present cen- 
tury. We have two officers, annually chosen, by the name of lea- 
ther-sealers, from a power given them by ancient charter, to mark 
the vendible hides ; but now the leather-sealers have no duty, but 



was induced to extend the manufacture of them in her own do- 
minions, and Government giving encouragement to the artizans of 
Birmingham, they were, in 1 804, enabled to supply monthly 5000 stand 
of arms, in 1809, 20,000, and in 1810, from 28,000 to 30,000 which 
were supplied regularly until the termination of the war in 1815. 
A temporary proof-house had been erected, in Lancaster- street, 
under the inspection of a Board of Ordnance, to expedite businsss ; 
but, in 1813, an Act was obtained to erect a permanent one, where 
all kinds of gun and pistol barrels might be proved, and the omis- 
sion subjects the party to a heavy penalty. It is situated in Ban- 
bury-street, and under the directions of three Wardens, chosen an- 
nually from the guardians and trustees named in the Act. In addi- 
tion to them, the Lords Lieutenants of Warwick, Worcester, and 
Stafford ; the Members of Parliament for these counties, and the 
Mcigistrates, acting within seven miles of Birmingham, are appointed 
guardians. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 61 

that of taking an elegant dinner ; shops are erected upon tan-fats ; 
the Leather Hall is gone to destruction, and we are reduced to one 
solitary tanner. 

STEEL. 

The progress of the arts, is equal to the progress of time; they 
began and will end together. Though some of both are lost, yet 
they both accumulate. 

The manufacture of iron, in Birmingham, is ancient beyond re- 
search ; that of steel is of modern date. 

Pride is inseparable from the human character ; the man without 
it, is the man without breath. We trace it in various forms through 
every degree of people ; but, like those objects about us, it is best 
discovered in our own sphere ; those above, and those below us, 
rather escape our notice ; envy attacks an equal. Pride induced a 
late High Bailiff, at the proclamation of our Michaelmas fair, to 
hold his wand two feet higher than the usual rest, that he might 
dazzle the cr-owd with a beautiful glove hanging pendant, a ruffle 
curiously wrought, a ring set with brilliants, and a hand delicately 
white. Pride preserves a man from mean actions, it throws him 
upon meaner : it whets the sword for destruction, it urges the lau- 
dable acts of humanity, it is the universal hinge on which we move, 
it glides the gentle stream of usefulness, it overflows the mounds 
of reason, and swells it into a destructive flood ; like the sun, in his 
milder rays, it animates and draws us towards perfection ; but like 
him, in its fiercer beams, it scorches and destroys. 

Money is not the necessary attendant of pride, for it abounds no 
where more than in the lowest ranks. It adds a sprucer air to a 
Sunday dress, casts a look of disdain from a bundle of rags ; it boasts 
the honour of a family, while poverty unites a soul and upper leather 
with a bandage of shop-thread. There are people who even pride 
themselves in humility. 

This dangerous ^oofZ, this necessary evil, supports the female cha- 
racter ; without it, the brightest parts of the creation would degene- 
ate. It will be asked, " What portion may be allowed '?" Prudence 
will answer, " As much as you please, but not to disgust." It is 
equally found in the senate-house, and the button-shop ; the scene 



62 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of action is the scene of pride. He who makes steel prides himself 
in carrying the art one step higher than he who makes iron. 

This art appeared amongst us in the seventeenth century ; was 
introduced by the family of Kettle. The name of Steelhouse-lane 
will convey to posterity the situation of the works, the commercial 
spirit of Birmingham will convey the produce to the Antipodes. 

From this warm, but dismal climate, issues the button which shines 
on the breast, and the bayonet intended to pierce it ; the lancet, 
which bleeds the man, and the rowel, the horse; the lock which 
preserves the beloved bottle, and the screw to uncork it ; the needle, 
equally obedient to the thimble and pole. 

BRASS WORKS. 

The manufacture of brass was introduced by the family of Turner, 
in about 1 740, who erected those works at the south-end of Coles- 
hill-street ; then, near two hundred yards beyond the buildings, but 
now the buildings extend half a mile beyond them. 

Under the black clouds which arose from this corpulent tunnel, 
some of the trades collected their daily supply of brass ; but the 
major part was drawn from the Macclesfield, Cheadle, and Bristol 
companies. 

* Causes are known by their effects ;' the fine feelings of the heart 
are easily read in the features of the face : the still operations of the 
mind, are discovered by the rougher operations of the hand. Every 
creature is fond of power, from that noble head of the creation, man, 
who devours man, down to that insignificant mite, who devours his 
cheese : every man strives to be free himself, and to shackle another. 
Where there is power of any kind, whether in the hands of a prince, 
a people, a body of men, or a private person, there is a propensity to 
abuse it : abuse of power will everlastingly seek itself a remedy 
and frequently find it ; nay, even this remedy may in time degene- 
rate to abuse, and call loudly for another. 

Brass is an object of some magnitude, in the trades of Birmingham; 
the consumption is said to be a thousand tons per annum. The 
manufacture of this useful article had long been in few and opulent 
hands ; who, instead of making the humble bow, for favours received, 
ficted with despotic sovereignty, established their own laws, chose 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 63 

their customers, directed the price, and governed the market. In 
1780, the article rose, either through caprice, or necessity, perhaps 
the/onner, from £72. a ton to £84. the result was, an advance upon 
the goods manufactured, followed by a number of counter-orders and 
a stagnation of business. 

In 1781, a person, from affection to the user, or resentment to the 
maker, perhaps the latter, harangued the public in the weekly pa- 
pers; censured the arhitary measures of the brazen sovereigns, 
shewed their dangerous influence over the trades of the town, and 
the easy manner in which works of our own might be constructed 
— good often arises out of evil ; this fiery match, dipt in brimstone, 
quickly kindled another furnace in Birmingham. Public meetings 
were advertised, a committee appointed, and subscriptions opened 
to fill two hundred shares of £100 each, deemed a sufficient capital ; 
each proprietor of a share, to purchase one ton of brass annually. 
Works were immediately erected upon the banks of the canal, for 
the advantage of water carriage, and the whole was conducted with 
the true spirit of Birmingham freedom. 

The old companies, which we may justly consider the directors 
of a south sea bubble in miniature, sunk the price from £84. to £56. 
Two inferences arise from this measure ; that their profits were once 
very high or were now very low ; and, like some former monarchs 
in the abuse of power, they repented one day too late. 

NAILS. 

In most occupations, the profit of the master and the journeyman 
bear a proportion. If the former is able to figure in genteel life, 
the latter is able to figure in silk stockings. If the master can afford 
to allow upon his goods ten per cent, discount for money, the ser- 
vant can afford to squander half his wages. In a worn-down trade, 
where the tides of profit are reduced to a low ebb, and where impru- 
dence sets her foot upon the premises, the master and the man starve 
together. Only half this is our present case. 

The art of nail-making is one of the most ancient among us ; we 
may safely charge its antiquity with four figures. We cannot con- 
sider it a trade in^ so much as of Birmingham ; for we have but few 
nail-makers left in the town ; our nailers arc chiefly masters, and 



64 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

rather opulent. The manufacturers are so scattered round the 
country, that we cannot travel far, in any direction, out of the sound 
of the nail-hammer. But Birmingham, like a powerful magnet, 
draws the produce of the anvil to herself. 

When I first approached her, from Walsall, in 1741, I was sur- 
prised at the prodigious number of blacksmith shops upon the road ; 
and could not conceive how a country, though populous, could sup- 
port so many people of the same occupation. In some of these shops 
I observed one, or more females, stript of their upper garment, and 
not overcharged with the lower, wielding the hammer with all the 
grace of the sex. The beauties of their face were rather eclipsed 
by the smut of the anvil ; or, in poetical phrase, the tincture of the 
forge had taken possession of those lips, which might have been 
taken by the kiss. Struck with the novelty, I enquired *' Whether 
the ladies in this country shod horses?" but was answered with a 
smile, "They are nailers." 

A fire without heat, a nailer of a fair complexion, or one who 
despises the tankard, are equally rare among them. His whole sys- 
tem of faith may be comprised in one article — that the slender two- 
penny mug, used in a public house, is deceitful above all thinffSy 
and desperately wicJced. 

While the master reaps the harvest of plenty, the workman sub- 
mits to the scanty gleanings of penury, a thin habit, an early old 
age, and a figure bending towards the earth. Plenty comes not 
near his dwelling, except of rags, and of children. But few recruits 
arise from his nail-shop, except for the army. His hammer is worn 
into deep hollows, fitting the fingers of a dark and plump hand, 
hard as the timber it wears. His face, like the moon, is often seen 
through a cloud of smoke.* 

BELLOWS. 

Man first catches the profession ; the profession afterwards moulds 
the man. In whatever profession we engage, we assume its charac- 



* During the last twenty years nails have been made of cast-iron, 
which, for shape and beauty, excel those made by hand. They are 
rendered so malleable as to equal any wrought nail which can be 
forged. 



1 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 65 

ter, become a part of it, vindicate its honour, its eminence, its anti- 
quity, or feel a wound through its sides. Though there may be no 
more pride in a minister of state, who opens a budget, than in a 
tinker who carries one, yet they equally contend for the honour of 
their trade. 

The bellows-maker proclaims the honour of his art, by observing 
he alone produces that instrument which commands the winds ; his 
soft breeze, like that of the south, counteracts the chill blasts of 
winter ; by his efforts, like those of the sun, the world receives 
light ; he creates when he pleases, and gives breath when he cre- 
ates. In his caverns the winds sleep at pleasure, and by his orders 
they set Europe in flames. He farther pretends that the antiquity 
of his occupation will appear from the plenty of elm, once in the 
neighbourhood, but long cut up for his use ; that the leather-mar- 
ket in Birmingham, for many ages, furnished him with sides ; and 
though the manufacture of iron is allowed to be extremely ancient, 
yet the smith could not procure his heat without a blast, nor could 
that blast be raised without the bellows. One inference will arise 
from these remarks, that bellows-making is one of the oldest trades 
in Birmingham, 

THREAD. 
We, who reside in the interior parts of the kingdom, may observe 
the first traces of a river issue from its fountain ; the current so 
extremely small, that if a bottle of liquor was discharged into its 
course, it would manifestly augment the water, and quicken the 
stream. If we pursue this river, winding through one hundred and 
thirty miles, we shall observe it collect strength as it runs, expand 
its borders, swell into consequence, employ multitudes of people, 
carry wealth in its bosom, and exactly resemble thread-making in 
Birmingham. If we represent to our idea a man able to employ 
three or four people, himself in an apron, one of the number ; but 
being unable to write his name, shows his attachment to the Chris- 
tian religion by signing the cross to receipts ; whose method of book- 
keeping, like that of the publican, is a door and a lump of chalk ; 
producing a book which none can peruse but himself; who, havino- 
manufactured forty pounds weight of thread, of divers colours, and 

K 



66 HISTORY OF BIKMINGHAM. 

rammed it into a pair of leather bags, something larger than a pair 
of boots which we might deem the arms of his trade empaled^ slung 
them on a horse, and placed himself on the top by way of a crest, 
visits an adjacent market to starve with his goods at a stall, or re- 
tail them to a mercer, nor return without the money, we shall see a 
thread-maker of 1652. If we pursue this occupation, winding through 
the mazes of one hundred and thirty years, we shall see it enlarge 
its boundaries, multiply its people, increase its consequence and 
wealth, till 1782, when we behold the master in possession of cor- 
rect accounts, the apron thrown aside, the stall kicked over, the 
bags tossed into the garret, and the mercer overlooked in the grand 
prospect of exportation. We farther behold him take the lead in 
provincial concerns, step into his own carriage, and hold the king's 
commission as a magistrate. 

PRINTING BY JOHN BASKERVILLE. 

The pen of m\ historian rejoices in the actions of the great ; the 
fame of the deserving, like an oak tree is of sluggish growth. The 
present generation becomes debtor to him who excels, but the fu- 
ture will discharge that debt with more than simple interest. The 
still voice of fame may warble in his ears towards the close of life, 
but her trumpet seldom sounds in full clarion, till those ears are 
stopped with the finger of death. 

This son of genius was born at Wolverly, in the county of Wor- 
cester, in 1706; heir to a paternal estate of £60 per annum, which, 
fifty years after, while in his own possession, had increased to £90. 
He was trained to a stone-cutter, but, in 1726, became a writing- 
master in Birmingham. In 1737, he taught a school in the Bull- 
ring, and is said to have written an excellent hand. 

As painting suited his talents, he entered into the lucrative branch 
of japanning, and resided at No. 22, in Moor-street. 

He took, in 1745, a building lease of eight acres, two furlongs 
north-west of the town, to which he gave the name of Easy-hill, 
converted it into a little Eden, and built a house in the centre ; 
but the town, as if conscious of his merit, followed his retreat, and 
surrounded it with buildings. Here he continued the business of a 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 67 

japanner for life ; his carriage, each pannel of which was a distinct 
picture, might be considered the pattern-card of his trade, and 
was drawn by a beautiful pair of cream-coloured horses.* 

His inclination for letters induced him, in 1750, to turn his 
thoughts towards the press. He spent many years in the uncertain 
pursuit, sunk £600 before he could produce one letter to please 
himself, and some thousands before the shallow stream of profit be- 
gan to flow. 

His first attempt, in 1756, was a quarto edition of Virgil, price 
one guinea, now worth several. — He afterwards printed Paradise 
Lost, the Bible, Common Prayer, Roman and English Classics^ 
kc. in various sizes, with more satisfaction to the literary world than 
emolument to himself. 

In 1765, he applied to his friend, Dr. Franklin, then at Paris, 
and now Ambassador from America, to sound the literati respect- 
ing the purchase of his types, but received for answer, " that the 
French, reduced by the war of 1756, were so far from pursuing 
schemes of taste, that they were unable to repair their public build- 
ings, but suffered the scaflfolding to rot before them." 

In private life he was a humourist ; idle in the extreme ; but his 
invention was of the true Birmingham model — active. He could 
well design, but procured others to execute ; wherever he found 
merit, he caressed it. He was remarkably polite to the stranger, 
fond of show, a figure rather of the smaller size, and delighted to 
adorn that figure with gold-lace. During the twenty-five years I 
knew him, though in the decline of life, he retained the singular 
traces of a handsome man. If he exhibited a peevish temper, we 
may consider good nature and intense thinking are not always found 



* The spot where Baskerville resided is now encompassed by 
Easy-row, Cambridge-street, Crescent wharfs, St, Martin's-place, 
and Broad-street ; the house he erected was afterwards enlarged by 
the late John Ryland, Esq., whose improvements were but just com- 
pleted, when, in 1791, it was destroyed in the memorable and dis- 
graceful riots of that yeai-. 



68 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

together. Taste accompanied him through the different walks of 
agriculture, architecture, and the finer arts. Whatever passed 
througli liis fingers bore the lively marks of John Baskerville. He 
erected a mausoleum in his own grounds for his remains, and died 
vithout issue, in 1775, at the age of 69. Many efforts were used 
after his death, to dispose of the types ; but, to the lasting discredit 
of the British nation, no purchaser could be found in the whole 
commonwealth of letters. The Universities coldly rejected the offer. 
The London booksellers understood no science like that of profit. 
The valuable property, therefore, lay a dead weight till purchased 
by a literary society in Paris, in 1779, for £3,700. 

It is an old remark, that no country abounds with genius so much 
as this island ; and it is a remark nearly as old, that genius is no 
where so little rewarded ; how else came Dryden, Goldsmith, and 
Chatterton, to want bread ? Is merit, like a flower of the field, too 
common to attract notice, or is the use of money beneath the care 
of exalted talents ? 

Invention seldom pays the inventor. If you ask what fortune 
Baskerville ought to have been rewarded with ? " The ?nost which 
can be comprised in five figures." If you farther ask what he pos- 
sessed ? " The least .'" but none of it squeezed from the press. 
What will the shade of this great man think, if capable of thinking, 
that he has spent a fortune, and a life of genius, in carrying to per- 
fection the greatest of all human inventions ; and that his produc- 
tions, slighted by his country, were hawked over Europe in quest 
of a bidder ? His example has since taught others to equal him. 

We must revere, if we do not imitate, the taste and economy of 
the French nation, who, brought by the British arms, in 1762, to 
the verge of ruin, rising above distress, were able, in seventeen years, 
to purchase Baskerville's elegant types, and expend an hundred 
thousand pounds in printing the works of one of her most eminent 
authors. 

BRASS FOUNDRY. 
The curious art before us is perhaps less ancient than profitable, 
and less healthful than either. I shall not enquire whose grand- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 69 

father was the first brass-founder here, but shall leave their grand- 
sons to settle that important point with my successor, who shall 
next write the History of Birmingham. Whoever was the first, I 
believe he figured in the reign of King William; but, though he 
sold his productions at an excessive price, he did not, like the mo- 
derns, possess the art of acquiring a fortune; but now the master 
knows the way to affluence. 

BREWERY. 
The two props of eating and drinking, like the two legs of a man, 
support his body. Without them he would make but a miserable 
shift. They give equal relief, are nearly of equal standing. If the 
antiquary finds pleasure in the researches of a few centuries, what 
will he find in these two amusements ? They are the two oldest fa- 
shions we know ! He may readily trace their origin to Adam. He 
may pursue, with some precision, the fashions of dress through 
5000 years, but the fashions of eating and drinking are, at least, one 
day older. The love of life, the desire of the sex towards each 
other, the fear of death, and the relish for food, make a part of 
our nature, and are planted in us for the preservation of our race. — 
If the pleasure of infusing existence was no greater than that of de- 
stroying it, if the dread of death was no more than that of sleep, and 
the pleasure of taking sustenance no greater than that of discharg- 
ing it, annihilation would follow. The first thing we learn is to cry 
for food ; the last to die when we cease to take it. Could we sus- 
tain life without it, or procure it without trouble, the manufactures 
would cease. Invention might assist us with regard to fire and 
clothing, but there is no food without labour. One would think 
the Israelites must have made but a despicable figure in the eyes of 
the active, philosophical, or commercial world, for spending forty 
idle years in the wilderness. It is no wonder want of employment 
bred discontent. 

In 1752, a brewery Mas instituted in the Inkleys ; but, as the 
practice of the inhabitants was to brew their own drink, it fell, for 
want of success. In 1782, another was erected in Moseley-street. 

A person from London, in 1784, erected a Brewery near the Ick- 
nield-street ( Warstoue-lane) to furnish the town with porter in the 



70 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

London style. This is supplied by a small rivulet 200 yards distant ; 
which, in the year 1400, guarded a castle, inhabited by a branch of 
the Birmingham family. Thus the humble water, as if attentive to 
the service of man, still retains its ancient use of preserving life. 
Its former master kept it for his private benefit ; its present, sells it 
for his. It then secured the property of the owner, it now wastes 
that of the user. From the extensive scale upon which this work is 
pursued, the proprietor may be said " to barrel up a river;" and the 
inhabitants, " to swallow a stream which ran useless for ages."* 



The manufacture of plated Hollow-ware, Umbrellas, &c. are of 
modern date. Professors also increase with mechanics, for the 
medical gentlemen, who, in 1781, were 24, are, in 1791, 43. Those 
of the law hold the same proportion. 

To enumerate the great variety of occupations among us, would 
be as useless, and as unentertaining to the reader, perhaps to the 
writer, as to count the pebbles in the street. 

Having therefore visited a few, byway of specimen, I shall desist 
from further pursuit, and wheel off in a 

HACKNEY COACH. 

Wherever the view of profit opens, the eyes of a Birmingham man 
are open to see it. 

In 1775, a person was determined to try if a Hackney Coach would 
take with the inhabitants. He had not mounted the box many times 
before he inadvertently dropped the expression, " Thirty shillings a 
day !" The word was attended with all the powers of magic, for 
instantaneously a second rolled into the circus. And these elevated 
sons of the lash were, in 1795, augmented to fifteen,t whom we may 



* There are now several extensive public breweries in Birmingham. 

f In 1834, Mr. Smith, of Smallbrook-street, introduced the Om- 
nibus into this town, running from Snowhill to the Bristol-road. 
Four others almost immediately followed in the different directions 
of Edgbaston, HandsAvorth, and Highgate. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 71 

justly denominate a club of tippling deities, who preside over wed- 
dings, christenings, and pleasurable excursions. 



It would give satisfaction to the curious calculator, could any 
mode be found of discovering the returns of trade, made by the uni- 
ted inhabitants. But the question is complicated. It only admits 
of surmise. From comparing many instances in various ranks among 
us, I have been led to suppose, that the weekly returns exceeds the 
annual rent of the buildings. And as these rents are nearly ascer- 
tained, perhaps, we may conclude, that those returns are about 
£100,000, and allowing for holidays about £4,000,000 a year. 

BANK. 
Perhaps a public bank is as necessary to the health of the com- 
mercial body, as exercise to the natural. The circulation of the 
blood and spirits are promoted by one, as are cash and bills by the 
other ; and a stagnation is equally detrimental to both. Few places 
are without ; yet Birmingham, famous in the annals of trafic, could 
boast no such claim. To remedy this defect, about every tenth 
trader was a banker, or, a retailer of cash. At the head of these were 
marshelled the whole train of drapers and grocers, till the year 1765, 
when a regular bank was constituted by Messrs, Taylor and Lloyd, 
two opulent tradesmen, whose credit being equal to the bank of Eng- 
land, quickly collected the shining rays of sterling property into its 
focus. Wherever the earth produces grass, an animal will be found 
to eat it. Success produced a second bank, by Robert Coales, Esq. 
a third by Francis Goodal, Esq. and Co. and in 1791, a fourth by 
Isaac Spooner, Esq. and Co.* 

WEALTH, 
I have often taken the liberty of wandering rather wide of Bir- 
mingham, in my historical remarks ; but in this visionary chapter, 
I must, like Anson, take the liberty of compassing the globe. By the 
laws of the quill, an author, under severe penalties, is forbid to sleep ; 

* There are now ten extensive Banking Establishments. 



72 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

nay, if he suffers a reader to sleep, he may, hke a woman guilty of 
petty treason, he condemned to the fiames : but he is no where 
forbid to play, or to shift his station ; he who plays, may amuse 
another as much as himself, and we all know, he who writes is often, 
\\\xo\\^\ poverty , obliged to shift his station. 

If we survey this little world, vast in our idea, but small compared 
to immensity, we shall find it crusted over with property, fixed and 
moveable. Upon this crusty world, subsist animals of various kinds ; 
one of which, something short of six feet, who moves erect, and 
seems the only one without a tail, takes the lead in pride, and in the 
command of this property. Fond of power, and conscious that pos- 
sessions give it, he is ever attempting, by force, fraud, or laudable 
means, to arrive at both. 

Fixed property bears a value according to its situation ; 10,000 
acres in a place like London, and its environs, would be an immense 
fortune, such as no man ever possessed ; while, 10,000, in some parts 
of the globe, though well covered with timber, would not be worth 
a shilling. No king to govern, no subject to submit, no market to 
exhibit property, no property to exhibit, instead of striving to get 
possession, he would, if cast on the spot, strive to get away. Thus 
assemblages of people mark a place with value. 

Moveable property is of two sorts, that which, with the assistance 
of man, arises from the earth, and the productions of art, which 
wholly arise from his labour, A small degree of industry supplies 
the wants of nature, a little more furnishes the comforts of life, and 
a farther little, the luxuries, A man, by labour, first removes his 
own wants, then, with the overplus of that labour, purchases the la- 
bour of another. Thus, by furnishing a hat for the barber, the hat- 
ter procures a wig for himself: the tailor, by making a coat for 
another, is enabled to buy cloth for his own. It follows, the larger 
the body of people, the more likely to cultivate a spirit of industry ; 
the greater that industry, the greater its produce ; consequently, the 
more they will supply the calls of others, and the more lucrative 
will be the returns to themselves. 

It may be asked, what is the meaning of the word rich ? Some 
have termed it, a little more than a man has ; others, the possession 
of a certain sum, not very small ; others again, as much as will con- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 73 

tent him. Perhaps all are wrong. A man may be rich, possessed 
only of one hundi-ed pounds ; he may be poor, possessed of one hun- 
dred thousand. He alone is rich, whose income is more than he 
uses. 

Industry, though excellent, will perform but half the work ; she 
must be assisted by economy ; without this, a ministerial fortune 
would be defective. These two qualities, separated from each other, 
like a knife from the handle, are of little use; but like that, they be- 
come valuable when united. Economy without industry, will barely 
appear in a whole coat ; industry without economy, will appear in 
rags. The first is detrimental to the community, by preventing the 
circulation of property, tlie last is detrimental to itself. It is a sin- 
gular remark, that even industry is sometimes the way to poverty. 
Industry, like a new-cast guinea, retains its sterling value, but, 
like that, it will not pass currently till it receives a sovereign stamp ; 
economy is the stamp which gives it currency. I well knew a man 
who began business with £1,500, Industry seemed the end for 
which he was made, and in which he wore himself out. While he 
laboured from four in the morning till eight at night, in the construc- 
tion of gimblets, his family consumed twice his produce. Had he 
spent less time at the anvil, and more in teaching the lessons of 
frugaUty, he might have lived in credit. Thus the father was ruined 
by industry, and his children have, for many years, been fixed on 
the parish books. The people of Birmingham are more apt to get 
than to keep. 

Though a man, by his labour, may treat himself with many 
things, yet he seldom grows rich. Riches are generally acquired by 
purchasing the labour of others. He who buys the labour of one 
hundred people, may acquire ten times as much as by his own. 

What then has that capricious damsel. Fortune, to do in this 
chain of argument? Nothing. He who has capacity, attention, and 
economy, has a fortune within himself. She does not command 
hirn^ he commands her. 

Having explained the word riches, and pointed out the road to 
them, let us examine their use. They enable a man with great fa- 
cility to shake off an old friend, once an equal ; and forbid access 

L 



74 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

to inferiors, except a toad-eater. Sometimes they add to his name 
the pretty appendage of Right Honourable Baronet, or Esquire, an 
addition much coveted, which, should he happen to become an au- 
thor, is an easy passport through the gates of fame. His very fea- 
tures seem to take a turn from his fortune, and a curious eye may 
easily read in his face the word consequence. They change the 
tone of his voice from the submissive to the commanding, in which 
he well knows how to throw a few graces. His style is convincing. 
Money is of singular efficacy ; it clears his head, refines his sense, 
points his joke. The weight of his fortune adds weight to his ar- 
gument. If, my dear reader, you have been a silent spectator at the 
Shakspeare Tavern, at a general meeting for public business, at the 
Low Baililf's feast, at Hobson's, or at Jones's, you may have ob- 
served many a smart thing said unheeded by the man without mo- 
ney, and many a paltry one, echoed with applause, from the man 
with it. The room in silent attention hears one, while the other 
can scarcely hear himself. They direct a man to various ways of 
being carried with great ease, who is too idle to carry himself; nay, 
they invert the order of things, for we often behold two men who 
seem hungry carry one who is full fed. They add refinement to his 
palate, prominence to his belly, scent to his leavings, scarlet to his 
nose. They frequently ward off old age. The ancient rules of 
moderation being broken, luxury enters in all her pomp, followed 
by a group of diseases, with a physician in their train and the rector 
in his. Vials, prayers, tears, and gally-pots, close the sad scene, 
and the individual has the honour to rot in state before old age 
can advance. His place may be readily supplied with a joyful 
mourner. 

There are people among us who manage matters with such ad- 
dress that they pay their way with credit, live after the rate of five 
or six hundred pounds a year, without a shilling of their own. In 
doubtful prospects, the shadow may be taken for the substance. 
A tree may flourish to the sight and be rotten at the root. There 
are others who have acquii-ed £20,000, yet appear to the eye much 
in the style of journeymen. He who has been long inured to his 
dusty shops, and whose shops have paid him, deems it a sin to for- 
sake them. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



75 



The wealth of our principal inhabitants, December, 1783, may be 
comprised in the following table. — Perhaps we have 

3 who possess upwards of £100,000 each. 



7 




. 


50,000 




8 




, 


30,000 




17 




. 


20,000 




80 




. 


10,000 




94 






5,000* 




* In September 


1828, 


the estimate of the supposed population 


and wealth of Birn 


linghan^ 


was as follows 


: — 




Total popu 


ation 






120,000 


Females 


. 


. 




50,000 


Adult male 


3 . 






25,000 


Persons. 




Property. 




Amount. 


1 








£400,000 


2 




300,000 . 




600,000 


3 




200,000 . 




000,000 


4 




150,000 . 




600,000 


5 




100,000 . 




500,000 


6 




80,000 . 




480,000 


10 




50,000 . 




500,000 


"20 




30,000 . 




600,000 


30 




20,000 . 




600,000 


50 




15,000 . 




750,000 


70 




10,000 . 




700,000 


100 




5,000 . 




500,000 


200 




2,000 . 




400,000 


400 




1,000 . 




400,000 


1000 




500 . 




500,000 


2000 




250 . 




500,000 


3000 




100 . 




300,000 


4000 




50 . 




200,000 


5000 




25 . 




125,000 


5000 




15 . 




75,000 


4000 




. 




000,000 


Female proj 


erty 






670,000 




£10,000,000 



76 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

Some one may ask, " how came you to know what property the 
inhabitants are possessed of, they never told you ?" I answer, the 
man long accustomed to shoot with a gun, cannot be a bad shooter, 
he will sometimes hit the mark, seldom be far from it. The man 
■who has guessed for thirty years cannot be a bad guesser. 

I have written, you see, an extensive chapter, consisting of many 
pages, merely for the sake of a few figures, which compose six 
crabbed lines, cut short at both ends. Instead of making a little 
cabinet to hold the treasure I may be charged with making a 
house ! But, let me observe, this treasure has taken more time in 
ascertaining than the house in building. 

A reader, fond of figures, will quickly perceive that I have se- 
lected 209 people who take the lead among 50,000, by commanding 
a property of £3,500,000. 

Out of the 209, 103 began the world with nothing but their own 
prudence ; 35 more had fortunes added to their prudence, but too 
small to be brought into account ; and 71 persons were favoured 
with a larger, which, in many instances, is much improved. Hence 
it follows that the above sum is chiefly acquired by the present in- 
habitants. But we are not to suppose Birmingham, during this 
age, has increased in wealth to that amount. While these 209 for- 
tunes have been making, twice that number, of various sizes, have 
been spent, divided, or carried off. But all the 209 are of modern 
date, not one of them having passed through three descents. 

Many occasions have offered, in the course of this work, which 
obliged me to pay a just compliment to the merit of the inhabitants, 
and which I gladly embraced ; but no occasion surpasses the pre- 
sent. — A fortune, justly gained, is a credit to the man who gains it, 
and is generally considered by him who has it, and him who has it 
not, a pretty conveniency. It is a benefit to others. A man can- 
not acquire £10,000 by fair trade, without 10,000 persons being 
gainers by the acquirement. It confers a singular honour on the 
place of his success. Pride may afterwards induce him to be 
ashamed of the place, but the place is never ashamed of him. 

These observations corroborate a remark in the begimiing of the 
work, that we are well able io fabricate gentlemen, but not to Jceep 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 77 

them. Birmingham, a fertile field, yields a copious harvest, which 
attracts the inhabitants fifty miles round it ; some of whom glean a 
fortune and retreat with the prize. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Have you, my dear reader, seen a sword hilt, of curious, and of 
Birmingham manufactory, covered with spangles of various sizes, 
every one of which carries a separate lustre, but, when united, has a 
dazzling effect ? Or have you seen a ring, from the same origin, 
set with diamonds of many dimensions, the least of which, sparkles 
with amazing beauty, but, when beheld in cluster, surprise the be- 
holder ? Or have you, in a frosty evening, seen the heavens be- 
spangled with refulgent splendour, each stud shining with intrinsic 
excellence, but, viewed in the aggregate, reflect honour upon the 
maker, and enliven the hemisphere? Such is the British Govern- 
ment. Such is that excellent system of polity which shines the 
envy of the stranger, and the protector of the native. 

Every city, town, and village in England, has a separate jurisdic- 
tion of its own, and may justly be deemed a stud m the grand 
lustre. 

Though the British constitution is as far from perfection, as the 
glory of the ring and the hilt are from that of the sun which causes 
it, or the stars from the day ; yet perhaps it stands higher in the 
scale of excellence, than that of its neighbours. We may, with 
propriety, allow that body to shine with splendour, which has been 
polishing for seventeen hundi-ed years. Much honour is due to the 
patriotic merit which advanced it to its present eminence. 

Though Birmingham is but one sparkle of the brilliant cluster, 
yet she is a sparkle of the first water, and of the first magnitude. 

The more perfect any system of government, the happier the 
people. A wise government will punish for the commission of 
crimes, but a wiser will endeavour to prevent them. Man is an ac- 
tive animal ; if he is not employed in some useful pursuit, he will 
employ himself in mischief: example is prevalent. If one man falls 
into error, he often draws another. Though heaven, for wise pur- 



78 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

poses, suffers a people to fulfil the measure of their iniquities, a pru- 
dent state will nip them in the bud. 

It is easy to point out some places, only one third the magnitude 
of Birmingham, whose frequent breaches of the law, and quarrels 
among themselves, find employment for half a dozen magistrates, 
and four times that number of constables ; whilst the business of 
this was for many years conducted by a single Justice, the late John 
Wyrley, Esq. If the reader should think I am mistaken ; and ob- 
ject, that parish affairs cannot be conducted without a second : Let 
me reply. He conducted that second also. 

As humah nature is nearly the same, whether in or out of Bir- 
mingham ; and as enormities seem more prevalent out than in, we 
may reasonably ascribe the cause to the extraordinary industry of the 
inhabitants, not allowing time to brood over, and bring forth mis- 
chief, equal to places of less diligence. 

There were, in 1795, two acting magistrates to hold the beam of 
justice, the Rev, Benjamin Spencer, and Joseph Carless, Esq. who 
both resided at a distance. 

Many of our corporate towns received their charters from that 
amiable, but unfortunate prince, Henry the Second, These were 
the first dawnings of British liberty, after fixing the Norman yoke. 
They were afterwards ratified and improved by the subsequent 
Kings of England, granting not only the manors, but many exclu- 
sive privileges. But at this day, those places which were so remark- 
ably favoured with the smiles of royalty, are not quite so free as 
those that were not. 

We often behold a pompous corporation, which sounds well in 
history, superintending something like a dirty village. This is a 
head without a body. The very reverse is our case — we are a body 
without a head. For though Birmingham has undergone an ama- 
zing alteration in extension, riches, and population, yet the govern- 
ment is nearly the same as the Saxons left it. This part of my im- 
portant history therefore must suflfer an eclipse ; this illustrious 
chapter, which rose in dazzling brightness, must be veiled in the 
thick clouds of obscurity ; I shall figure with my corporation in at 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 79 

despicable light. I am not able to bring upon the stage a mayor and 
a group of aldermen, dressed in antique scarlet, bordered with fur, 
drawing a train of attendants ; the meanest of which, even the pin- 
der, is badged with silver; nor treat my guest with a band of music, 
in scarlet cloaks with broad laces. I can grace the hand of my Bir- 
mingham fidler with only a rusty instrument, and his back with 
barely a whole coat ; neither have I a mace, charged with armorial 
bearings, for the inaugeration of the chief magistx-ate. The reader, 
therefore, must either quit the place, or be satisfied with such enter- 
tainment as it affords. 

The officers, who are annually chosen, to direct in this prosperous 
seat of fortune, are 

An High Bailiff, Two High Tasters, 

Low Bailiff, Two Low Tasters, 

Two Constables, Two Affeirers, and 

Head borough. Two Leather Sealers. 

All which, the constables excepted, are no more than servants to 

the lord of the manor ; and whose duty extends no farther, than to 

the preservation of the manorial rights. 

The high bailiff to inspect the market, and see that justice takes 
place between buyer and seller ; to rectify the weights and dry mea- 
sures used in the manor. 

The low bailiff summons a jury, who chuse all the other officers, 
and generally with prudence. But the most important part of his 
office is, to treat his friends at the expence of about Seventy Pounds. 

The headborough is only an assistant to the constables, chiefly in 
time of absence. 

High tasters examine the goodness of beer, and its measure. 

Low tasters inspect the meat exposed to sale, and cause that to be 
destroyed which is unfit for use. 

Affeirers ratify the chief rent and amercements, between the lord 
and the inhabitant. And the 

Leather sealers, stamped a public seal upon the hides, when Bir- 
mingham was a market for leather. 

These manorial servants, instituted by ancient charter, chiefly 
possess a name, without an office. Thus order seems assisted 



80 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

by industry, and thus a numerous body of inhabitants are governed 
without a governor. 

Exclusive of the choice of officers, the jury impannelled by the 
low bailiff, have the presentation of all encroachments upon the lord's 
waste, which has long been neglected. The duties of office are little 
known, except that of taking a generous dinner, which is punctually 
observed. It is too early to begin business till the table is well 
stored, and too late afterwards. 

During the existence of the house of Birmingham, the court-leet 
was held at the Moat, in what we should now think a large and 
shabby room,* conducted under the eye of the low bailiff, at the 
expence of the lord. The jury, twice a year, wei-e witnesses that the 
famous dish of roast beef, ancient as the family who gave it, demanded 
the head of the table. 

The court was afterwards held at the Leather-hall, and the ex- 
pence, which was trifling, borne by the bailiff. Time, prosperity, 
and emulation, are able to effect considerable changes. The jury, 
in the beginning of the present century, were impannelled in the Old 



* The Manor House was, for a succession of ages, the residence of 
the Lords of Birmingham. It was situate within one hundred yards 
south of St. Martin's Church, and about forty west of Digbeth. 
The approach to the court yard was over a bridge which stood 
exactly opposite Bradford-street. The house was defended by a 
Moat, supplied by a small stream which originally joined the Rea, 
at Vaughton's Hole, and divides the parishes of Birmingham and 
Edgbaston. At the formation of the Moat, the course of this ap- 
parently insignificant stream (which afterwards turned a thread mill 
for several years in Mill-lane) was changed ; and this rivulet was so 
level and gentle, that another, called Pudding-brook, ran parallel 
with it in an opposite direction, a circumstance that very much sur- 
prised Brindly, the celebrated engineer. On the filling up of the 
Moat, the former stream, which had been diverted from the river 
Rea for a thousand years, was again restored by an artificial channel 
near Vaughton's Hole. Some portion of the original Hall remained 
until the Moat was filled up, in 1816. The site of the mansion and 
domain is now occupied by the cattle mai-ket, Smithfield. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 81 

Cross, then newly erected, from whence they adjourned to the house 
of the bailiff, and were feasted at the growing charge of two or three 
pounds. This practice continued till about the year 1735, when 
the company, grown too bulky for a private house, assembled at the 
tavern, and the bailiff enjoyed the singular privilege of consuming 
ten pounds upon his guests. 

It is easier to advance in expences than to retreat. la 1 7G0, they 
had increased to forty pounds. The lord was anciently founder of 
the feast, and treated his bailiff; but now that custom is inverted, 
and the bailiff treats his lord. 

The proclamation of our two fairs, is performed by the high 
bailiff, in the name of the Lord of the Manor ; this was done a cen- 
tury ago, without the least expence. But the strength of his liquor, 
a silver tankard, and the pride of showing it, perhaps induced him, 
in process of time, to treat his attendants. His ale, without a mi- 
racle, was, in a few years, converted into wine, and that of various 
sorts ; to which was added, a small collation ; and soon afterwards 
his friends are complimented with a card, to meet him at the Hotel, 
where he incurred an expence of thirty pounds. While the spirit 
of the people refines by intercourse, industry, and the singular 
jurisdiction amongst us, this insignificant pimple, on our head of 
government, swells into a wen. 

Habits approved are soon acquired: a third entertainment has, 
of late years, sprung up, termed the constable's feast, with this 
difference, it is charged to the public. We may consider it a 
a wart on the political body, which merits the caustic. 

Deritend, being a hamlet of Birmingham, sends her inhabitants to 
the court-leet, where they perform suit and service, and where her 
constable is chosen by the same jury. 

I shall here exhibit a list of our principal officers during the last 
century.* If it should be objected, that a petty constable is too in- 
significant, being the lowest officer of the crown, for admission into 
history ; I answer, by whatever appellation an officer is accepted, 

* We shall continue this list of the principal officers of the town 
from 1 790 to the present year, 1 834. 



82 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

he cannot be insignificant who stands at the head of 70,000 people. 
Perhaps, therefore, the office of constable may be sought for in 
future, and the officer himself assume a superior consequence. 

The dates are the years in which they were chosen, fixed by 
charter, within thirty days after Michaelmas. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



83 



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HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 89 

COURT OF REQUESTS. 

Law is the very basis of civil society, without it man would 
quickly return to his original rudeness ; the result would be rob- 
bery and blood; — and even laws themselves are of little moment, 
without a due execution of them — there is a necessity to annex pu- 
nishment. 

All wise legislators have endeavoured to proportion the punish- 
ment to the crime, but never to exceed it. A well conducted state 
holds forth a scale of punishments for transgressions of every di- 
mension, beginning with the simple reprimand, and proceeding 
downwards even to death itself. 

Much honour is due to that judicial luminary, William Murray, 
Earl of Mansfield, who presided over the King's Bench, for intro- 
ducing equity into the courts of law, where she had long been a 
stranger. 

From a consideration of the prodigious intercourse subsisting in 
so vast a body of people as those of Birmingham, it was wisely 
judged necessary to establish an easy and expeditious method of 
ending dispute, and securing property. The inhabitants, therefore, 
in 1752, procured an act for the recovery of debts under Forty 
Shillings ;* constituting seventy-two commissioners, three to be a 
quorum. They sat for the dispatch of business in the chamber over 
the Old Cross (till it was destroyed) every Friday morning. There 
usually appears before them 160 causes: their determinations are 
final. Two clerks, constituted by the act, attend the court to give 
judicial assistance ; are always of the law, chosen alternately by the 
lord of the manor, and the commissioners, and continue for life. 
Once in every two years, ten of the commissioners are ballotted out, 
and ten others of the inhabitants chosen in their stead. 

LAMP ACT. 
Order is preserved by attention. In 1769 an act was obtained, and 
in 1 773 an amendment of the act, for lighting and cleaning the streets 

* Since raised to Five Pounds. 

N 



90 IIISTOKY OF BTRMINGILIM. 

of Birmingham, and for removing obstructions that were prejudicial 
to the health or convenience of the inhabitants. 

These acts were committed to the care of about seventy-six irre- 
sohite commissioners, with farther powers of preventing encroach- 
ments upon pubhc ground ; for it was justly observed, that robbery 
was a work of darkness, therefore to introduce light would, in some 
measure, protect property. That in a town like Birmingham, full 
of commerce and inhabitants, where necessity leads to continual 
action, no part of tlie twenty-four hours ought to be dark. That, 
to avoid darkness, is sometimes to avoid insult : and that by the 
light of 700 lamps, many unfortunate accidents would be prevented. 
It was also observed, that in course of time, the buildings in some 
of the ancient streets had encroached upon the path four or five feet 
on each side ; which caused an irregular line, and made those streets 
eight or ten feet narrower, (that are now used by 70,000 people) than 
they were wlion used only by a tenth part of that number ; and that 
their confined width rendered the passage dangerous to children, 
women, and feeble age, particularly on the market day and Saturday 
evening. That if former encroachments could not be recovered, fu- 
ture ought to be prevented : and that necessity pleads for a wider 
street now than heretofore, not only because the inhabitants being 
more numerous, require more room, but the buildings being more 
elevated, obstruct the light, the sun, and the air, which obstructions 
tend to sickness and inconveniency. 

Narrow streets with modern buildings, are generally dirty, for 
want of these natural helps ; as Digbeth, St. Martin's-lane, Swan- 
alley, &:c. The narrower the street, the less it can be influenced by 
the sun and the wind, consequently the more the dirt will abound ; 
and by experimental observations upon stagnant water in the street, 
it is found extremely prejudicial to health. And also, the larger the 
number of people, the more the necessity to watch over their inte- 
rest with a guardian's eye. 

It may farther be remarked, that an act of parliament ought to 
distribute justice with an impartial hand, in which case, content and 
obedience may reasonably be expected. But the acts before us carry 
a manifest [)artiality, one man clai;us a right to an encroachment 



HISTORY OF BIKMINGHAM. 



91 



into the street of three or four feet, whilst another is proscribed to 
twelve inches.* 

This inactive body of seventy-six who wisely argue against the 
annihilation of one evil, because another will remain, had powers to 
borrow a thousand pounds, to purchase and remove some obstruc- 
tive buildings, and to defray the expeuce by a rate on the inhabi- 
tants, which, after deducting about one hundred and twenty pounds 
per annum for deficiencies, amounted in 

£ 
1774 to . . . 912 



1775 — 

1776 — 

1777 — 

1778 — 

1779 — 

1780 — 

1785 — 

1786 — 

1787 — 

1788 — 

1789 — 

1790 — 



902 
947 
965 
1012 
1022 
1021 
1256 
1253 
1265 
1276 
1315 
iSOlf 



Though the town was averse to the measure, as an innovation, 
they quickly saw its utility, and seemed to wish a more vigorous ex- 
ertion of the commissioners ; but numbei's sometimes procrastinate 
intentions. If it is difficult to find five men of one mind, it is more 



* These acts have been consideral)ly altered and amended ; the 
commissioners increased in number to 108, and vested with 
greater powers. 

£ 
t In 1801 the rate amounted to . . . 2660 

1809 3000 

1812 5000 

1814 ...... 6500 



92 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

difficult to find a larger number. That business which would run 
currently through the hands of five, stagnates at fifteen, the number 
required. 

It is curious to observe a body of commissioners, every one of 
whom conducts his own private affairs with propriety and success, 
attack a question by the hour, which is as plain as the simplest pro- 
position in the mathematics, when, not being able to reduce it, they 
leave the matter undetermined, and retreat in silence. In works of 
manual operation a large number may be necessary, but in works of 
direction a small one facilitates dispatch. 

Birmingham, a capacious field, by long neglect, is overgrown 
with encroaching weeds. The gentle commissioners, appointed to 
reduce them, beheld it an arduous work, were divided in opinion, 
and some withdrew the hand from the plough. The manorial 
powers, which alone could preserve order, have slept for ages. Re- 
gularity has been long extmct. The desire of trespass is so preva- 
lent, that I have been tempted to question if it were not for the 
powers of the Lamp Act, feeble as they are, whether the many- 
headed-public, ever watchful of prey, would not, in another cen- 
tury, devour whole streets, and totally prevent the passenger. Thus 
a supine jurisdiction abounds with strcet-rohhers. 

If the sleepy powers of the lord made any efforts, those efforts 
operated to the injury of the streets by taking encroachments into 
pay. If simple mischief is prejudicial, what then must be that mis- 
chief which is countenanced by power? — We learn from modern re- 
cords, that 

per aim. 

Charles Soul held a passage from the street to a vault at . 5s. Od. 
Andrew Adams, a flight of steps . . . .2s. 6d. 

William Butler, for a vault and a shed . . .7s. 6d. 

Richard Lntwych, a vault and sashes . . .7s. 6d. 

Wakefield, steps and sashes . . .7s. 6d. 

Isaac Baker, for leave to lay down coals . . .7s. 6d. 

Thomas Everett, a passage to a vault . . .5s. Od. 

These trespasses, with many others, were presented to the lord 
by his own jury ; but the encroacher checked their proceedings by 
a silver bar and continued possession. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 93 

There are cases where the line of the street should inviolably be 
preserved, as in a common range of houses ; therefore all projections 
above a given dimension infringe this rule. There are other cases 
where taste would direct this line to be broken, as in buildings of 
singular size or construction, which should be viewed in recess. 
Those of a public nature generally come under this description, as 
the Free School and the Hotel, which ought to have fallen two or 
three yards back. What a pity that so noble an edifice as the The- 
atre in New-street, should lose any of its beauty by the prominence 
of its situation. 

As Birmingham abounds with new streets that were once private 
property, it is a question, often discussed, in what point of time the 
land appropriated for such streets ceases to be private ? But as this 
question was never determined, and as it naturally rises before me, 
and is of importance, suffer me to examine it. When building 
leases are granted, if the road be narrow, as was lately the case at 
the west end of New-street, the proprietor engages to give a cer- 
tain portion of land to widen it. From that moment it falls to the 
lot of the public, and is under the controul of the commissioners, as 
guardians of public property. I allow, if within memory, the 
granter and lessees should agree to cancel the leases, which is just 
as likely to happen as the powers of attraction to cease, and the 
moon to descend from the heavens, the land would again revert to 
its original proprietor. 

Though the streets of Birmingham have, for many ages, been ex- 
posed to the hand of the encroacher, yet, by a little care, and less 
expence, they might, in about one century, be reduced to a consi- 
derable degree of use and beauty. In what light then shall we be 
viewed by a future eye if we neglect the interest of posterity ? 

COMMERCIAL COMMITTEE. 

A Commercial Committee, consisting of the first characters, was 
instituted to watch over the common interests of the place. 

HAY MARKET. 
In 1791, a market was opened every Tuesday to supply the town 
with hay, &:c. 



94 HISTORY OF EIKMINGHAM. 

PUBLIC LIBRARY. 

The benefit of letters is ascertained by comparing the practice of 
tlie fifteenth century with the present. Then, even the man of re- 
flection, for want of this valuable resource, might tluiik himself 
into a doze, by his fire- side, and slumber away half his night's rest 
before bed-time. No magazines for mental subsistence were pub- 
lished in that barren period. His mind, starved and unemployed, 
sunk into inaction, instead of knowing what appertained to others, 
he did not know himself; the past and the future were hid from his 
eyes, and his utmost stretch of acquirement comprehended only a 
small part of his day, aided by a narrow tradition. The result was 
darkness, slavery, ignorance, prejudice, poverty of substance and 
of thought, bigotry, and superstition. Neither could he draw in- 
telligence from others, for their literary fountains were as dry as his 
own ; his manners were as savage as his judgment was erroneous. 
But the man of the present century becomes heir to immense trea- 
sures. The generations which are past, as well as the present, have 
stored up more amusement than he can grasp. The collection of 
ages lie open to view ; he beholds things which are past as if they 
were present, and lights up his dark mind from a constellation of 
luminaries. Before him expands a capacious garden, rich in cul- 
ture, where he can gather what flowers he pleases ; here he tastes 
the tree of knowledge without danger ; solitude no longer disgusts ; 
for, should he lose his company, he cannot lose himself. He com- 
mands the living and the dead ; what they acquired he may pos- 
sess. So far from dozing away the day, he can scarcely spare the 
night for sleep. The results of the press are, juster ideas, refine- 
ment of taste and judgment, advance in civilization, the introduc- 
tion of wealth, knowledge, and freedom. Anciently, the man who 
understood the alphabet was reputed a conjurer, but now he may 
understand something more, and be reputed a blockhead. 

The public Library of Birmingham, originated in 1779, and, like 
many important things, from exceedingly minute beginnings. Each 
member paid a guinea entrance, and six shillings per annum. Their 
number was so small that they could scarcely have quarelled had 
they been inclined, and their whole stock might have been hid in a 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 95 

handkerchief. The society received, from the benevolent hand of 
Dr. Priestley, in 1782, that stability and method, without which no 
institution can prosper. In 1781, the subscription was raised to 
eight shillings. — A librarian then entered the service at £10 per 
annum. In 1786, admission was advanced to £1 lis. 6d., and an 
order made that when the subscribers amounted to SOU, it should 
be two guineas, and when 400, three guineas. Tvventv-Iivc pounds 
per annum is paid for a room, and 30 guineas to a librarian for su- 
perintending a stock of 4000 volumes.* 

The medical gentlemen, in 1790, formed themselves into a Book 
Society, for purchasing the publications of their science. 

KELIGIOX AND POLITICS. 

Although these two threads, like the warp and the woaf, are very 
distinct things, yet, like them, they are usually woven together. — • 
Each possesses a strength of its own, which, when united, become 
extremel}' powerful. 

Power is the idol of man ; we not only wish to acquire it, but also 
to increase and preserve it. 

Birmingham, in remote periods, does not seem to have attended 
so nuich to religious and political dispute, as to the coarse music of 
her hammer. Peace seems to have been her characteristic — she 
paid obedience to that Prince who had the good fortune to possess 
the throne, and regularly paid divine honours in St. Martin's, because 
there was no other church. Thus, through the long ages of Saxon, Da- 
nish, and Norman government, we hear of no noise but that of the 
anvil, till the reign of Henry the Third, when her Lord joined the 
Barons against the Crown, and drew after him some of his mecha- 



* There are now 600 subscribers who must be shareholders ; the 
shares are transferable, and produce about seven or eight guineas. 
The Library contains 20,000 volumes: the present building was 
erected by tontine subscription. 

Another subscription library was established some years ago, 
under the name of the " Birmingham New Library" ; there are up- 
wards of 300 subscribers. 



96 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

nics, to exercise the very arms tliey had been taught to make ; at the 
battle of Evesham, he staked his life and fortune, and lost both. 

Things quickly returning into their former channel, the people of 
Birmingham stood silent spectators during the dreadful contest be- 
tween the two roses, pursuing the tenor of still life till the civil wars 
of Charles the First, when they took part with the parliament; some 
of whose troops were stationed here, particularly at the Garrison and 
Camphill ; the names of both originating in that circumstance. 

Prince Rupert, as hinted before, approaching Birmingham in 
1643 with a superior power, forced the lines, and as a punishment 
set fire to the town. His vengeance burned fiercely in Bull-street, 
and the affrighted inhabitants quenched the flames with a fine. 

In 1660, she joined the wish of the kingdom, in the restoration of 
the Stuart family. About this time, many of the curious manufac- 
turers began to blossom in this prosperous garden of the arts. 

We should deem it a contradiction, to riot for that religion 
whose doctrines are peace. One would think, the man who wishes 
to enjoy his own, can do no less than allow another the same privi- 
lege. 

A sameness in religious sentiment is no more to be expected, than 
a sameness of face. If the human judgment varies in almost every 
subject of plain knowledge, how can it be fixed in this, composed of 
mystery ? 

Is there not as much reason to punish my neighbour for differing 
in opinion from me, as to punish me because I diflfer from him ? Or 
is there any to punish either ? If a man's sentiments and practice 
in religious matters appear even absurd, provided society is not in- 
jured, what right has the magistrate to interfere ? And if the head 
of power cannot stand against him upon reasonable ground, none 
of the members can. The task is as easy to make the stream run 
upwards as to form a nation of one mind. 

The line of Brunswick had swayed the British sceptre near half 
a century, ere the sons of science in this meridian, were completely 
reconciled. 

PLACES OF WORSHIP. 

In a town like Birmingham, unfettered with charteral laws, which 



niSTOHY OF 13IRMINGIIAM. OT 

would prevent access to the stranger, and where the principles of 
toleration are well understood, it is no wonder we find various 
modes of worship. The wonder consists in finding such agree- 
ment in such variety. We have (1782) fourteen places for religi- 
ous exercise, six of the establishment, three dissenting meeting- 
houses, a quaker's, baptist's, methodises, catholic's, and Jewish. 

SAINT MARTIN'S. 
It has been remarked that the antiquity of this church is too re- 
mote for historical light. The curious records of those dark ages, 
not being multiplied and preserved by the art of printing, have 
fallen a prey to tiijre and the revolution of things. There is reason 
for fixing the foundation in the eighth century, perhaps rather 
sooner, and it then was at a small distance from the buildings. 
The town stood upon the hill, whose centre was the Old Cross ; 
consequently the ring of houses that now surrounds the church, 
from the bottom of Edgbaston-street, part of Spiceal-street, and 
St. Martin's-lane, could not exist. 

I am inclined to think that the precincts of St. Martin's have 
undergone a mutilation, and that the place which has obtained the 
modern name of Bull-ring, and which is used as a market for corn 
and herbs, was once an appropriation of the church, though not used 
for interment; because the church is evidently calculated for a 
town of some size, to which the present church-yard no way agrees, 
being so extremely small that the ancient dead must have been con- 
tinually disturbed to make way for the modern, that little spot being 
their only receptacle for 900 years. A son not only succeeds his 
father in the possession of his property and habitation, but also in 
the grave, where he can scarcely enter without expelling half a dozen 
of his ancestors. 



* Since Mr. IIutton wrote, the following churches and chapels 
connected with the Establishment have been built : — 

Christ Church, situated in New-street.— Of this church it has 
been observed by the author of the Picture of Birmingham, that 
o 



9S HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The antiquity of St. Martin's will appear by surveying the adja- 
cent ground. From the eminence upon which the High- street stands 



" placed as it is, it ought to have borne a more imposing appear- 
ance. It stands on an elevated spot, forming an angular jutting 
promontory in the busy confluence of several streets. In order to 
obtain a level area, one side of the church-yard is raised above the 
street to an altitude sufficient to allow of a neat row of vaults and 
shops under it, fronting to New-street. The advantages of situa- 
tion are, however, lost by the insignificance and baldness of the 
design. At the western front is a portico, which is intended to 
give an august efiect to the whole ; but, though lofty and massive 
its own proportions are far from being correct, and it has little con- 
gruity with the body, and still less with the spire ; this last is un- 
graceful in its form, ultra incongruous in its connection with the 
rest of the edifice, ostentatiously bad in its whole effect," The view 
of the eastern side of the church from the extremity of, and ap- 
proach along, ^Vaterloo-street, will, however, add considerably to 
the appearance of this place of worship. The building of this edi- 
fice, upon land given by Wm. Philips Ixge, Esq., (whose ances- 
tors bestowed the site of St Philip's Church) commenced from vo- 
luntary subscriptions in 1805, but it was not completed till 1813, 
when it was consecrated, on the 6th of July, by the Honourable 
and Right Rev. James Cokkwallis, Bishop of Lichfield and 
Coventry. The body of the church is free to the public, and is 
neatly fitted up with benches ; but the galleries being paid for, are 
finished in a superior style of elegance, with mahogany, supported 
with light pillars of the Doric order. The portico and spire were 
both erected by Mr. Richardson, of Handsworth ; the former at 
the expence of £1200, and the latter £1500, which was completed 
in 1816. This place of worship is computed to accommodate 1500 
persons. 

Trinity Chapel, Bordesley, is erected on an admirable site, 
and the workmanship altogether, of its exterior and interior, re- 
flect credit on the talent and taste of the persons employed. This 
beautiful gothic chapel is considered to resemble that of King's 
College, Cambridge ; the fine arched and sheltered entrance cor- 
responds with the richness of the other parts of the building, and 
the interior, at the eastern end, is highly ornamented. A fine altar- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 99 

proceeds a steep and regular descent into Moor-street, Digbeth, down 
Spiceal-street, Lees-lane, and Worcester-street. This descent is 
broken only by the church-yard, which, through a long course of 
interment for ages, is augmented into a considerable hill, chiefly 
composed of the refuse of life. We may, therefore, safely remark, 
in this place, the dead are raised up. Nor shall we be surprised 



piece, by Foggo, representing Christ healing the sick man, at the 
pool of Bethesda, is well designed, and executed with much taste ; 
the communion table and pulpits are also well arranged and hand- 
somely fitted up. 

Saint Peter's Church, Dale-end. — This beautiful structure 
(which has since been nearly destroyed by fire) was finished in 
1828. It is a Grecian Doric edifice, surmounted with a handsome 
cupola. It cost £13,000. 

Saint Thomas's Church, Holloway Head.— The almost semi- 
circular front, or western entrance of this beautiful structure is or- 
namented with six chaste Ionic columns, under which the arches to 
the centre and two side entrances, have a picturesque appearance ; 
the eastern end is also ornamented with Roman Ionic columns, sup- 
porting a handsome pediment ; from the centre rises a quadrangu- 
lar tower, supported by columns of a similar character ; these sus- 
tain a light octagon cupola, surmounted by a gilt round ball and 
cross, which produce a very beautiful efi'ect. This church, from 
being erected upon so elevated a site, may be seen at an immense 
distance. It presents an admirable object, and may be considered 
the most desirable addition that has been made to the town for a 
number of years. It is calculated to hold 2049 persons, 1423 cf 
which have free sittings ; it cost £14,200. 

Saint George's Church, Tower-street, was commenced in 
1820, and consecrated in 1822, by the Bishop of Chester. It 
cost about £13,000 ; seats 2000 persons, of which more than 1000 
are without payment. At the east end is a large window of stained 
glass, and an elegant altar-piece. It was built from designs by Mr. 
Rickman, in the style of Gothic arcliitecture of the reign of Edward 
the Third. 

Saint James's Chapel, Ashted, was originally the residence of 
Dr. Ash. After his death it underwent various alterations, which 
made it a very neat and cuunnoilious [)lace ol worsliij). 



lOf) HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

at the i-apid growth of the hill, when we consider this little point of 
land was alone that hungry grave which devoured the whole inhabi- 
tants, during the long ages of existence, till the year 1715, when St. 
Philip's was opened. The curious observer will easily discover the 
fabric has lost that symetry wliich should ever attend architecture, 
by the growth of the soil about it, causing a low appearance in the 
building, so that instead of the cliurch burying the dead, the dead 
would, in time, have buried the church. As the ground swelled by 
the accumulation of the dead, wall after wall was added to support 
the growing soil. Thus the fence and the hill sprang up together ; 
this was demonstrated, August 27, 1781, when, in removing two or 
three old houses to widen St. Martin"s-lane, they took down the 
church-yard wall, which was fifteen feet high without, and three 
within. This proved to be only an outward case that covered 
another wall twelve feet high ; in the front of which was a stone, 
elevated eight feet, and inscribed, " Robert Dallaway, Francis Bur- 
ton, Church-wardens, anno. dom. (supposed) 1310." As there is 
certain evidence that the church is much older than the above date, 
we should suspect there had been another fence many ages prior to 
this. But it was put beyond a doubt, when the workmen came to a 
third wall, four feet high, covered with antique coping, probably 
erected with the fabric itself, which would lead us far back into the 
Saxon times. 

The present church is of stone ; the first upon the premises, and 
perhaps the oldest building in these parts. 

As the country does not produce stone of a lasting texture, and as 
the rough blasts of 900 years had made inroads upon the fabric, it 
was thought necessary, in 1690, to case both church and steeple 
with brick, except the spire, which is an elegant one. The bricks 
and the workmanship are excellent. 

The steeple has, within memory, been three times injured by light- 
ning. Forty feet of the spire, in a decayed state, was taken down 
and rebuilt in 1781, with stone from Attleborough, near Nuneaton; 
and strengthened by a spindle of iron, running up its centre 105 
feet long, secm-ed to the side walls every ten feet by braces. 

Inclosed is a ring of twelve musical bells, and though I am not 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 101 

master of the bob-major and triple grandsire, yet am well informed 
the ringers are masters of the bell-rope ; but to excel in Birming- 
ham is not new. 

The seats in the church would have disgraced a meaner parish 
than that of Birmingham ; one would be tempted to think, they 
M-ere the first ever erected on the spot, without taste or order ; the 
timber was become hard with age, and to the honour of the inhabi- 
tants, bright with use. Each sitting was a private freehold, and was 
farther disgraced, like the coffin of a pauper, with the paltry initials 
of the owners' name. These divine abodes were secured with the 
coarse padlocks of a field gate. 

By an attentive survey of the seats, we plainly discover the en- 
creasing population of Birmingham. When the church was erected 
there was doubtless sufficient room for the inhabitants, and it 
vv^as probably the only place for public worship during 800 years. 
As the town encreased, gallery after gallery was erected, till no con- 
veniency was found for more. Invention was afterwards exerted to 
augment the number of sittings ; every recess capable only of ad- 
mitting the body of an infant, was converted into a seat, which indi- 
cates the continual increase of people, and that a spirit of devotion 
was prevalent among them . 

The floor of the church was greatly injured by interment, as also 
the light, by the near approach of the buildings, notwithstanding, in 
1733, the middle roof of the chancel was taken off, and the side 
walls raised about nine feet, to admit a double range of windows. 

Dugdale, who wrote in 1640, gives us twenty-two drawings of the 
arms, in the windows, of those gentry who had connexion with Bir- 
mingham. 

1. Astley. 7. Ancient and Modern Bir- 

2. Someri. mingham quartered. 

3. Ancient Birmingham. 8, Peshale quartering Bot>- 

4. Ancient Birmingham, the second tetort. 

house. 9. Birmingham quartering 

5. Seagrave. Wyrley. 

6. Modern Birmingham. 10. Freville. 



102 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

11. Ancient Birmingham. 17. Burdet. 

12. Knell. 18. Montalt. 

13. Fitz-Warrer. 19. Modern Birmingham. 

14. Montalt. 20. Beauchamp. 

15. Modern Birmingham. 21. Ferrers. 

16. Hampden 22. Latimer. 

These twenty-two coats are now reduced to three, which are, 

Number two, in the east window of the chancel, oi\ two lions 
passant azure, the arms of the family of Someri, Lords of Dudley 
Castle, and superior Lords of Birmingham. 

Number three in the south window of the chancel, azure, a hend 
lozenge of five points , or, the ancient arms of the family of Bir- 
mingham. 

And number ten, in the north window, or, a cross indented gules ; 
also, five fieurs de lis, the ancient arms of Freville, Lords of Tam- 
worth, whose ancestor, Marmion, received a grant of that castle from 
William the Conqueror, and whose descendant, Lord Viscount 
Townshend, is the present proprietor. 

Under the south window of the chancel, by the door, were two 
monuments a-breast, of white marble, much injured by the hand of 
rude time, and more by that of the ruder boys. The left figure, 
which is very ancient, I take to be William De Birmingham, who 
was made prisoner by the French at the Siege of Bellegard, in the 
25th of Edward the First, 1297. He wears a short mantle, which 
was the dress of that time, a sword, expressive of the military or- 
der, and he also bears a shield with the bend lozenge, which seems 
never to have been borne after the above date. The right hand 
figure, next the wall, is visibly marked with a much older date, per- 
haps about the conquest. The effigy does not appear in a military 
character, neither did the Lords of that period. 

Under the north-east window, is a monument of white marble, 
belonging to one of the Lords of the house of Birmingham ; but 
this is of modern date compared with the others, perhaps not more 
than 300 years ; he hearing the parte per pale, indented or, and 
gules. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 103 

NORTH GALLERY. 

John Crowley, in 1709, gave twenty shillidns per annum, payable 
out of the lowermost house m the Priory, to be distributed in bread, 
in the church, on St. John"s-day, to housekeepers in Birmingham, 
who receive no pay. 

Joseph Hopkins died in 1683, who gave £200., with which an 
estate was purchased in Sutton Coldfield; the rents to be laid out 
in coats, gowns, and other relief for the poor of Birmingham ; he 
also gave £5. lOs. to the poor of Birmingham. 

Whereas the church of St. Martin's, in Birmingham, had only 52 
ounces of plate in 1708, for the use of the communion table ; it was, 
by a voluntary subscription of the inhabitants, increased to 275. — 
Two flaggons, two cups, two covers and pattens, with cases : the 
whole £80 16s. 6d. 

Richard Banner ordered one hundred pounds to be laid out in 
lands within ten miles of Birmingham ; which sum, lying at inte- 
rest, and other small donations being added, amounted to £170, 
with which an estate at Erdington, value £8 10s. per annum, was 
purchased for the poor of Birmingham. 

Richard Kilcup gave a house and garden at Spark-brook, for the 
church and poor. 

William Rixam gave a house in Spiceal-street, No. 26, for the 
use of the poor, in 1568. 

John Ward, in 1591, gave a house and lands in Marston 
Culey. 

John Peak gave a chest bound with iron for the use of the church, 
seemingly about two hundred years old, and of two hundred pounds 
weight. 

Edward Smith gave £20 per ann. to the poor, in 1612, and also 
erected the pulpit. 

John Billingsley, in 1629, gave twenty-six shillings, yearly, 
chargeable upon a house in Dale-end, to be given in bread, by six 
pence every Sunday. 

Richard Dukesayle, in 1630, gave the utensils belonging to the 
communion table. 



104 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

Catharine Roberts, wife of Barnaby Smith, in 1642, gave £20, 
the interest of which was to be given to the poor the first Friday in 
Lent. 

John Milward gave £26 per annum, lying in Bordesley ; one 
third to the schoolmaster of Birmingham (Free School) ; one third 
to the principal of Brazen-nose College, Oxford, for the maintenance 
of one scholar from Birmingham or Haverfordwest, and the re- 
mainder to the poor. 

Mrs. Jennens gave £10. per annum to support a lecture the se- 
cond and third Thursday in every month.* 

This church, in 1786, underwent a thorough alteration, at the ex- 
pence of upwards of £4000, The vast number of grave-stones, 
which nearly covered the floor, and the names of the defunct, with 
their concise funeral memoirs, were committed to the same oblivion 
as themselves. The arms, monuments, pews, pulpit, roof, and cha- 
rities, fell in one general ruin. Nothing was left of this venerable 
edifice but part of the walls. Even the fine old monuments of the 
ancient lords, the pride of the church could barely find a place above 
ground, and that in the last stage of existence, the stairhole. With all 
my powers I pleaded for the lords and their arms ; but although I 
pleaded without a fee, I was no more regarded than some who plead 
with one. It is easy to destroy that which can never be restored. 

The following oflfspring of charity seems to have expired at its 
birth, but rose from the dead a few months ago, after an interment 
of fifty four years. 

The numerous family of Piddock flourished in great opulence for 
many ages, and though they were not lords of a manor, they were 
as rich as those who were ! they yet boast, that their ancestors could 
walk seven miles upon their own land. 

Perhaps they were possessed of the northern part of this parish, 
from Birmingham-heath to Shirland- brook, exclusive of many es- 
tates in the manors of Smethwick and Oldbury. 

Their decline continued many years, till one of them, in 1771, 

* There were, besides these, many smaller donations and be- 
quests. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 105 

extinguished their greatness by a single dash of his pen, in selHng 
the last foot of land. 

William Piddock, in 1728, devised his farm at Winson-green, 
about nine acres, to his wife Sarah, during life, and at her death, 
to his nephews and executors, William and John Riddall, their 
heirs and assigns for ever, in trust, for educating and putting out 
poor boys of Birmingham ; or other discretional charities in the 
same parish. 

But William and John wisely considered, that they could not put 
the money into any pocket sooner than their own ; that as the estate 
was in the family it was needless to disturb it ; that as the will was 
not known to the world, there was no necessity to publish it ; and, 
as it gave them a discretional power of disposal, they might as well 
consider themselves the poor, for they were both in the parish. 

Matters continued in this torpid state till 1782, when a quarrel 
between the brothers and a tenant broke the enchantment, and 
shewed the actors in real view. 

The officers, in behalf of the town, filed a bill in Chancery, and 
recovered the dormant property, which was committed in trust to 
the constables, churchwardens, and overseers of the day. 

During Cromwell's government, Slater, a broken apothecary 

of this place, having been unsuccessful in curing the body, resolved 
to attempt curing the soul. He therefore, to repair his misfortunes, 
assumed the clerical character, and cast an eye on the rectory of St. 
Martin's ; but he had many powerful opponents ; among others were 
Jennens, an ironmaster, possessor of Aston-furnace ; Smallbroke, 
another wealthy inhabitant ; and Sir Thomas Holt. However he, 
with difficulty, triumphed over his enemies, stept into the pulpit, 
and held the rectory till the Restoration. 

Being determined, in his first sermon, to lash his enemies with 
the whip of those times, he told his people, "The Lord had carried 
him through many troubles; for he had passed, like Sliadrach, 
Meshach, and Abednego, through the fiery furnace . And as the 
Lord had enabled the children of Israel to pass over the Red Sea, 
so he had assisted him in passing over the Small-hrooJcs, and to 
overcome the strong Holts of sin and satan." He was expelled at 
the Restoration. p 



lOG HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

John R'iland succeeded him, who is celebrated for piety, learn- 
ing, and a steady adherence to the interest of Charles the First ; in 
whose cause he seems to have lost every thing he possessed, 
but his life. He was remarkable for compromising quarrels 
among his neighbours, often at an expence to himself; also for 
constantly can-ying a charity-box, to relieve the distress of others ; 
and, though robbed of all himself, never thought he was poor, 
except when his box was empty. 

A succeeding rector, William Daggett, is said to have understood 
the art of boxing, better than that of preaching : his clerk often felt 
the weightier argument of his hand. Meeting a quaker, whose pro- 
fession, then in infancy, did not stand high in esteem, he offered 
some insults, which the other resenting, told him, "If he was not 
protected by his cloth, he would make him repent the indignity." 
Daggett immediately stripped, " There, now I have thrown off my 
protection." They fought ; but the spiritual bruiser proved too 
hard for the injured quaker. 

The benefice in 1771, was about £350 per annum. The late 
rector, John Parsons, procured an act in 1773, to enable the incum- 
bent to grant building leases; the grant of a single lease in 1777, 
brought the annual addition of about £170. The income is now 
about £1000, and is expected at the expiration of the leases, to ex- 
ceed £2000. 

SAINT PHILIP'S. 

We have touched upon various objects in our peregrinations through 
Birmingham, which meet with approbation, though viewed through 
the medium of smoke ; some of these, being covered with the rust 
of time, command our veneration ; but the prospect before us is 
wholly modern. 

If an historian had written in the last century, he would have re- 
corded but two places of worship ; I shall shortly record fourteen ; 
but my successor, if not prevented by our own imprudence, in driv- 
ing away the spirit of commerce, may record the four and twentieth.* 

* About forty are now in regular use. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 107 

The artist who carries the manufactures among foreigners, or the 
man who wantonly loads the people with burdens, draws the wrath 
of the place upon his own head. 

This curious piece of architecture, the steeple of which is erected 
after the model of St. Paul's, in London, but without its weight, 
does honour to the age that raised it, and to the place that contains 
it. Perhaps the eye of the critic cannot point out a fault, which the 
hand of the artist can mend ; perhaps too, the attentive eye cannot 
survey this pile of building, without communicating to the mind a 
small degree of pleasure. If the materials are not proof against 
time, it is rather a misfortune to be lamented, than an error to he 
complained of, the country producing no better. 

Yet amidst all the excellencies we boast, I am sorry to charge this 
chief ornament with an evil which admits no cure, that of not rang- 
ing with its own cemetery, or the adjacent buildings ; out of seven 
streets, with which it is connected, it lines with none. Like Deri- 
tend chapel, of which I have already complained, from a strong 
attachment to a point of religion, or of the compass, it appears twisted 
out of its place. 

This defect in religious architecture, arises from a strict adhe- 
rence to the custom of the ancients, who fixed their altars towards 
the east. It is amazing, that even weakness itself, by long practice, 
becomes canonical ; it gains credit by its age and its company. 
Hence Sternhold and Hopkins, by being long bound up with scrip- 
ture, acquired a kind of scripture authority. 

The ground, originally, was part of a farm, and bore the name of 
the Horse-close ; afterwards Barley-close. Thus a benign spot of 
earth gave additional spirits to a man when living, and kindly 
covered him in its bosom when dead. This well-chosen spot is the 
summit of the highest eminence in Birmingham, with a descent every 
way ; and, when the church was erected, there were no buildings 
nearer than those in Bull-street. 

The gifts, which the benefactor himself believes are charitable, and 
expects the world to believe the same, if scrutinized, will be found 
to originate from various causes — counterfeits are apt to be offered 
in currency for sterling. Perhaps ostentation has brought forth 



108 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

more acts of beneficence than charity herself ; but, like an unkind 
parent, she disowns her offspring, and charges them upon charity. — 
Ostentation is the root of charity ; why else are we told, in capitals, 
by a large stone in the front of a building — " This hospital was 
erected by William Bilby, in the sixty-third year of his age, 1709." 
Or, that " John Moore, yeoman, of Worley Wigorn, built this 
school in 1730." Nay, pride even tempts us to strut in a second- 
hand robe of charity, left by another ; or why do we read — " These 
alms-houses were erected by Lench's trust in 1 764, W. WALSING- 
HAM, Bailiff." Another utters the word charitij, and we rejoice 
in the echo. If we miss the substance, we grasp at the shadow. 

Sometimes we assign our property for religious uses late in the 
evening of life, when enjoyment is over, and dXvciO&i possession, — 
Thus we bequeath to piety what we can keep no longer. We con- 
vey our name to posterity at the expence of our successor, and scaf- 
fold our way towards heaven up the walls of a steeple. Will cha- 
rity chalk up one additional score in our favour, because we grant a 
small portion of our land to found a church, which enables us to 
augment the remainder treble its value, by granting building leases ? 
A man seldom makes a bargain for heaven and forgets himself. — 
Charity and self-interest, like the apple and the rind, are closely 
connected, and, like them, we cannot separate one without trespass- 
ing on the other. 

This superb edifice was begun by Act of Parliament in 1711, 
under a commission consisting of twenty of the neighbouring gentry, 
appointed by the bishop of the diocese, under his episcopal seal. — 
Their commission was to end twelve months after the erection of the 
church. 

Though Birmingham ever was, and perhaps ever will be, consi- 
dered as one parish, yet a portion of land, about one hundred acres, 
nearly triangular, and about three-fourths built up, was taken out 
of the centre of St. Martin's, like a shred of cloth out of a great 
coat to make a less, and constituted a separate parish by the appel- 
lation of St. Philip's. We shall describe this new boundary by an 
imaginary journey, for a real one perhaps was never taken since the 
land was first laid out, nor ever will to the end of time. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 109 

We include the warehouse, then of John Jennens, Esq., and jom- 
ing my premises, now No. 27, in High-street, penetrate through the 
buildings, till we come within twenty yards of Moor-street, turn 
sharp to the left, cross the lower part of Castle-street, Carr's-lane, 
and New Meeting-street ; pass close by the front of the Meeting- 
house, through Bank-alley, into Hen's-walk, having kept Moor- 
street about twenty yards to the right all the way ; we now enter 
that street at the bottom of Hen's-walk, pass through the east part 
of Dale-end, through Stafford-street, Steelhouse-lane, (then called 
Whittal-lane) Bull-lane, (then Newhall-lane) and Mount-pleasant. 
Our journey now leads us on the west of Pinfold-street, keeping it 
about twenty yards on our left ; up Peck-lane, till we come near 
the top, when we turn to the right, keeping the buildings, with the 
Free School in New-street, on our left, into Swan-alley. We now 
turn up the Alley into New-street, then to the right, which leads us 
to the party wall between No. 27 and 28 in High-street, late Jenens's, 
where we began. 

In the new parish I have described, and during the journey, kept 
on the left, there seems to have been, at passing the act, twelve 
closes, all which are filled with buildings, except the land between 
New-street and Mount-pleasant, which only waits a word from the 
owner to speak the houses into being. 

The church was consecrated in 1715, and finished in 1719, the 
work of eight years, at which time the commissioners resigned their 
powers into the hands of the diocesan, in whom is the presentation, 
after having paid, it is said, the trifling sura of £5,012; but per- 
haps such a work could not be completed for £20,000. Three rea- 
so nsmay be assigned why so small a sum was expended ; many of 
the materials were given, more of the carriage, and some heavy 
debts were contracted. 

The urns upon the parapet of the church, which are highly orna- 
mental, were fixed at the same time with those of the school, in 
about 1756. 

When I first saw St. Philip's, in the year 1741, at a proper dis- 
tance, uncrowded with houses, for there were none to the north. 
New-hall excepted, untarnished with smoke, and illuminated by a 



110 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

western sun, I was delighted with its appearance, and thought it 
then what I do now, and what others will in future, the pride of 
the place. If we assemble the beauties of the edifice, which cover 
a rood of ground ; the spacious area of the church-yard, occupying 
four acres, ornamented with walks, shaded with trees in double and 
treble ranks, and surrounded with buildings in elegant taste, per- 
haps its equal cannot be found in the British dominions. 

The steeple, till the year 1751, contained a peal of six bells, which 
were then augmented to ten, at which time St. Martin's, the mother 
church, having only eight, could not bear to be out-numbered by 
a junior, though of superior elegance, therefore ordered twelve into 
her own steeple ; but as room was insufficient for the admission of 
bells by the dozen, means were found to hoist them tier over tier. 

These two steeples are our puhllc band of music ; they are the only 
standing waits of the place. 

In the vestry is a theological library, bequeathed by the first rec- 
tor, William Higgs, for the use of the clergy in Birmingham and its 
neighbourhood ; he left £200 for future purchase, which was after- 
wards made, and an elegant library erected adjoining the Parsonage- 
house in 1792. 

Under the centre isle runs a vault, the whole length of the church, 
for the reception of those whose friends chuse to pay an additional 
guinea. 

The organ excels; the paintings, mouldings, and gildings are 
superb ; whether the stranger takes an external or an internal survey, 
the eye is struck with delight, and he pronounces the whole the 
work of a master. Its conveniency also can only be equalled by 
its elegance. 

In the Front Gallery. — Upon application of Sir Richard Gough 
to Sir Robert Walpole, then in power, George the First gave £600, 
in 1725, towards finishing this church. 

Whether monumental decoration adds beauty to a place already 
beautiful, is a question. There are three very small and very ele- 
gant monuments in this church. Upon one of the south pillars, is 
that of the above William Higgs, who died in 1733. Upon another 
is that of William Vyse, the second rector, who died in 1770, at tlie 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. Ill 

age of 61. And upon a north pillar, that of Girton Peak, Esq. a 
humane magistrate, who died in 1770, aged 48. 

Interment in the church is wisely prohibited ; an indecency in- 
compatible with a civilized people. The foreigner will be apt to 
hold forth the barbarity of the English nation, by observing, "they 
introduce corruption in their very churches, and pay divine adora- 
tion upon the graves of their ancestors." Places of worship were 
designed for the living ; the dead give up their title with their life ; 
besides, even small degrees of putrefaction, confined in a room 
where the air cannot circulate, may become prejudical to health. 

It is difficult to traverse the elegant walks that surround this 
gulph of death without contemplating, that time is drawing us to- 
wards the same focus, and that we shall shortly fall into the centre ; 
that this irregular circle contains what was once generous and beau- 
tiful, opulent and humane. The arts took their rise in this fruitful 
soil ; this is the grave of invention and of industry ; though multi- 
tudes unite with the dead, the numbers of the living increase ; the 
inhabitants change while their genius improves. We cannot pass 
on without reading upon the stones the short existence of our de- 
parted friends, perusing the end of a life with which we were well 
acquainted. The active motion, that veered with the rude blasts of 
seventy years, stops in this point for ever. 

There are many inducements for an author to take up the pen, 
but the leading motives, however disguised, seem to be pride and 
poverty ; hence two of the most despicable things among men fur- 
nish the world with knowledge. 

I shall, to avoid prolixity in a barren chapter of the two extremes 
of life, select about every tenth year from the register. Those years 
at the time of the plague make no addition to the burials, because 
the unhappy victims were conveyed to Lady- wood for interment. 



Year. 


Births. 


Burials. 


Year. 


Births. 


Burials 


1555 


37 


27 


1628 


100 


96 


1571 


48 


26 


1653 





47 


1590 


52 


47 


1666 


144 


121 


1600 


62 


32 


1667 


149 


140 


1610 


70 


45 









12 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



Year. 


Births. 


Burials. 


Year. 


Birtlis. 


Burials. 


1681 


251 


139 


1760 


984 


1143 


1719 


334 


270 


1770 


1329 


899 


1730 


449 


415 


1780 


1636 


1340 


1740 


520 


573 


1791 


2310 


3280* 


1750 


860 


1020 









SAINT JOHN'S CHAPEL, DERITEND. 

This, though joining to the parish of Birmingham, is a chapel of 
ease belonging to Aston, two miles distant. Founded in the fifth 
of Richard the Second, 1382. As soon as the chapel was erected, 
William Gefien, Thomas Holden, Robert of the Green, Richard 
Bene, Thomas de Belne, and John Smith, procured a licence from 
the king, to enable them to endow it with lands to the annual value 
of £6 13s. 4d. to support a priest; who, with his successors, seem 
to have exercised the usual functions of office, till 1537, when 
Henry the Eighth seized the property as chantry lands, valued at 
£13 Is. 7d. per annum. Two priests, who officiated at Aston, then 
possessed the pulpit, and divided the income. 

In 1677, Humphry Lowe of Coventry, bequeathed a farm at 
Rowley-Regis, called the Brick-house, then let at £35 to support 
the chapel. This bequest is held, in trust, by six of the inhabitants 
of Deritend and Bordesley. 

This chapel does not, like others in Birmingham, seem to have 
been erected first and the houses brought round it. It appears, by 
its extreme circumscribed latitude, to have been founded upon the 
site of other buildings, which were purchased, or rather given, by 
Sir John de Birmingham, Lord of Deritend, and situated upon the 
boundaries of the manor, perhaps to accommodate, in some measure, 
the people of Digbeth, because the church in Birmingham must, 
for many ages, have been too small for the inhabitants. 



* Of later years the numbers have been — 

Year. Births. Burials. 

1800 1881 1838 

1818 2447 2627 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 113 

Time seems to have worn ou<t the building of 1 382, in the win- 
dows of which were the arms of Lord Dudley, and Dudley empal- 
ing Barckley, both knights of the garter, descended from the 
Somerys, Barons of Dudley Castle ; also a whole figure of Walter 
Arden, Esq. ofanancient family, often mentioned, Lordof Bordesley. 
The present building was erected in 1735, and the steeple in 1762. 
In 1 777, eight of the most musical bells, together with a clock, 
entered the steeple. 

SAINT BARTHOLOMEW'S, 

Built in 1749, on the east side of the town, will accommodate 
about 800 hearers ; is neat and elegant. The land was the gift of 
John Jennens, Esq. possessor of a considerable estate in and near 
Birmingham. 

By the solicitation of Mrs. Weaman, Mrs. Jennens gave £1000, 
and the remainder was raised by contribution to accomplish the 
building. 

Wherever a chapel is erected, the houses immediately, as if 
touched by the wand of magic, spring into existence. Here is a 
spacious area for interment, amply furnished by death. The infant 
steeple, if it will bear the name, is very small, but beautiful. The 
chancel has this singular difference from others, that it veers to- 
wards the north. Whether the projector committed an error, I 
leave to the critics. It was the general practice of the Pagan 
church to fix their altar, upon which they sacrificed, in the East, 
towards the rising sun, the object of worship. The Christian 
church, in the time of the Romans, immediately succeeded the 
Pagan, and scrupulously adopted the same method; which has 
been strictly adhered to. By what obligation the Christian is 
bound to follow the Pagan, or wherein a church would be injured 
by being directed to any of the thirty-two points in the compass, 
is doubtful. Certain it is, if the chancel of Bartholomew's had 
tended due East, the eye would have been exceedingly hurt, and 
the builder would have raised an object of ridicule for ages. The 
ground will admit of no situation but that in which the church 
now stands. 

Q 



114 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The altar-piece was the gift of Basil, Earl of Denbigh ; and the 
communion plate, consisting of 182 ounces, that of Mary Carless.* 

SAINT MARY'S. 
Though the houses for divine worship were multiplied in Birm- 
ingham, yet the inhabitants increased in a greater proportion ; so 
that in 1 772, an act was obtained for two additional chapels. St. 
Mary's, therefore, was erected in 1774, in the octagon form, not 
overcharged with light nor strength ; in an airy situation. The 
clock was seldom seen to go right, but the wonder ceases if there 
are no works within. The land was the gift of Mary Weaman. 

SAINT PAUL'S. 

The act was procured for this chapel at the same time as for that 
of St. Mary's ; but it was not erected till 1779, upon a spot of ground 
given by Charles Colmore, Esq. upon the declivity of a hill, not 
altogether suitable for the elegant building it sustains, which is of 
stone — plain beauty unites with strength. 

The roof, like that of St. Mary's, appears too full. The steeple 
intended for this useful edifice, will do honour to the modern style 
of architecture, whenever money can be procured to erect it ; which 
at present is only delineated upon paper.f In 1791, a beautiful 
window was placed over the Communion Table, representing the 
Conversion of St. Paul, by that celebrated artist, Francis Eginton ; 
price four hundred guineas. 

OLD MEETING. 
The Unitarian dissenters from the establishment procured a 
licence for a meeting at the bottom of Digbeth, which yet bears the 
name of Meeting-house-yard. Here the rigid sons of worship paid 



* In 1 806, a fine-toned organ was erected ; and, during the 
present year, a school for the children belonging to this place, has 
been built at one corner of the chapel-yard. 

t A steeple has since been raised corresponding with its lower 
orders of Grecian architecture. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 115 

a weekly attendance. The place is now a work-shop ; the sound of 
the pulpit is changed into that of the bellows ; instead of an im- 
pression upon the heart, it is now stamped upon the button. The 
visitants used to appear in a variety of colours, but now always in 
black. 

Another was erected in the reign of King William, denominated 
the Old Meeting, and from whence the street in which it stands de- 
rives a name. This is large, and much attended.* 

NEW MEETING. 

Erected in the year 1730, at which time that in Digbeth went 
into disuse. The attendants, wealthy and humane, are well ac- 
quainted with the laudable arts of acquiring money, and of giving 
it away.f 

In 1780, the congregation judiciously turned their thoughts to- 
wards the celebrated Doctor Priestley, one of the first philosophers 
of the age, who became their pastor until 1791. 

CARR'S LANE MEETING. 
A scion of the Old Meeting, transplanted in 1748. The building 
cost about £700, and has since been beautified with £700 more. 
This society has been favoured with two donations ; one, the inte- 
rest of £800, by the will of John England, in 1771 ; the other Scott's 
Trust, mentioned in another part.+ 



♦ This building, and also the New Meeting-house, were destroyed 
at the riots, in 1791. The congregation of the former were awarded 
upwards of £1000 as a compensation. They afterwards erected the 
present chapel at an expence of about £5000. 

t Another Unitarian Meeting-house has recently been opened 
in Cambridge-street. 

+ This chapel was razed in 1819, and the present Meeting-house 
erectedinits place, atanexpenceof £ 10,000. It is to be regretted that 
so splendid a building should be placed in so confined a situation. 

In Steelhouse-lane is another place of worship belonging to the 
Independents, called Ebenezer Chapel, and the congregation forms 



116 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

BAPTIST MEETING. 

Founded in Cannon-street, 1738, This order of religionists, in 
the beginning of the present century, worshipped God at the top 
of Rann's-yard, near the Old Cross. Increasing in numbers and in 
consequence, they afterwards removed to another room in the yard 
of No. 38, in High-street. 

Some trifling differences arising in the congregation, to which the 
mind is everlastingly prone, caused discontent ; individuals began 
to sting each other, which in 1727, produced a swarm. The desti- 
tute wanderers, therefore, erected for themselves a small room in 
Freeman-street, where they hived in expectation of harmony. 

Although their teacher might possess some shining qualities, 
he did not possess that of protecting his flock, who, in 1752, 
silently retreated to the fold in Cannon-street ; and the place was 
soon after converted into a dwelling. 

The growing numbers of this prosperous society induced them, 
in 1 780, to enlarge the place of worship, at the expence of about 
£800, in which is observable, some beauty, but more conveniency.* 



the principal part of that formerly attached to Livery-street meeting. 
The first stone of this well-built structure was laid June 4, 1816, — 
it was opened on 9th December, 1818. It contains upwards of 
1200 sittings, 150 of which are free, independent of accommodation 
for upwards of 300 children who belong to its Sunday schools. 

LivERY-STREET Chapel, like King-street, was originally erected 
for an equestrian amphitheatre, afterwards converted into a dis- 
senting meeting-house, and is now occupied by the Ind ependants. 

King-street Chapel. — This place, which was formerly built 
for a theatre, and to which part of its interior still bears some re- 
semblance, belongs to the followers of Lady Huntingdon. There 
is a school attached to the chapel. 

* Rebuilt in an elegant and commodious manner, thirty years 
afterwards, for which nearly £4000 was subscribed. 

The Baptists have now three other chapels ; one in Bond-street, 
another in Lombard-street, and the other, a very beautiful and 
commodious one, in Graham-street, called Mount Zion. It was 
built at a cost of £11,500, and was opened, in 1824, by the Rev. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 117 

QUAKER'S MEETING, 

A large convenient place, situated in Bull-street, and notwith- 
standing the plainness of the profession, rather elegant within. The 
congregation is flourishing, rich, and peaceable. Chandler tells us, 
to the everlasting honour of the Quakers, that they are the only 
christian sect who have never exercised the cruel weapon of perse- 
cution. 

An author may assert a fact without the least hazard to his repu- 
tation. — The behaviour of the Quakers approaches the nearest to 
perfection of any religious society upon earth, and they are the only 
people untaught by an hireling ministry ! 

METHODIST'S MEETING. 

We learn from ecclesiastical history, that the people in high life 
are always /ollowers in religion. Though they are the best leaders 
in political and social concerns, yet all religions seem to originate 
from the lowest class. Every religion is first obstructed by vio- 
lence, passes through the insults of an age, then rests in peace, and 
often takes up the rod against another. 

The first preachers of the christian faith, the apostles, were men 
of the meanest occupations, and their church a wretched room in a 
miserable tenement. The superb buildings of St. Peter's in Rome, 
and St. Paul's in London, used by their followers, were not within 
the reach of their penetration. The religion of a private room soon 
became the religion of a country, and this humble church, dis- 
turbed for ages, became the church of Rome. 



Edward Irving then in the zenith of his popularity, and called St. 
Andrew's Kirk. After the erection of the Scottish Church, in 
Newhall-street, it was offered for sale, and ultimately bought by 
the Calvinistic Baptists. The building is very substantial, and has 
a bold and elegant appearance. Great taste is displayed in the in- 
terior ; the seats are capable of accommodating 2000 persons, and so 
judiciously arranged that from every part a good view of the 
preacher may be obtained. A very handsome and fine-toned organ 
adds very considerably to its appearance. 



118 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

John Wickliff, in 1 377, began to renew her disturbance. This 
able theologist planted our present national church ; when, advanc- 
ing to maturity, she became the mother of a numerous offspring, 
and this offspring, like their mother, were much inclined to perse- 
cution. 

Puritanism, her first born, groaned under the pressure of her 
hand. The Baptists, founded by a tailor, followed, and were buf- 
feted by both. — Independency appeared, ponderous as an elephant, 
and trampled upon all three. 

John Fox, a composition of the oddest matter, and of the mean- 
est origin, formed a numerous band of disciples, who suffered the 
msults of an age, but have carried the arts of prudence to the highest 
pitch. 

The Moravians, under the influence of Zinzendorf, rose about 
1740, but are not in a flourishing state; their circumscribed rules, 
like those of the cloister, being too much shackled to thrive in a land 
of freedom. 

James Sandiman introduced a religion, about 1750, but, though 
eclipsed himself by poverty, he taught his preachers to shine, for 
he allowed them to grace the pulpit with ruffles, lace, and a 
queue. Birmingham cannot produce one professor of the two last 
churches. 

The artillery of vengeance was pointed at Methodism, for thirty 
years ; but, fixed as a rock, it could never be beaten down, and its 
professors now enjoy their sentiments in quiet. After the institu- 
tion of this sect by John Wesley, in 1738, they were fii'st covered 
by the heavens, equally exposed to the rain and the rabble ; and 
afterwards occupied, for many years, a place in Steelhouse-lane ; 
then rented a cast off theatre in Moor-street, where they continued 
till 1782 ; when, quitting the stage, they erected a superb meeting- 
house in Cherry-street, at the expence of £1,200.* This was 



* This chapel was rebuilt in 1823, at an expence of nearly 
£10,000; affording accommodation for 2000 person, upwards of 
400 of which are free sittings. Connected with this place of wor- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 119 

opened, July 7, by John Wesley, whose extensive knowledge and 
unblemished manners, give us a tolerable picture of apostolic 
purity ; who believes, as if he were to be saved by faith ; and 
who labours, as if he were to be saved by works. 

Thus our composite order of religion, an assemblage of the Epis- 
copalian, the Presbyterian, the Independent, and the Baptist, fled 
from the buffetings of the vulgar, and now take peaceable shelter 
from the dews of heaven. 

CATHOLIC CHAPEL. 
I have already remarked, there is nothing which continues in the 
same state : the code of manners, habits of thinking, and of expres- 
sion, modes of living, articles of learning ; the ways of acquiring 

ship are large and elegant premises, used for Sunday and day schools. 
They cost upwards of £3000. These Sunday schools, supported 
by the Wesleyan Methodists, contain 3000 children. 

The other chapels belonging to the Wesleyan Metiiodists are — 

Bradfohd-street Chapel is a neat and elegant structure. It 
was rebuilt in 1826, and cost about £3,000. 

Belmont-row Chapel has an imposing appearance, and is very 
convenient within. Seats about 1,200 persons. 

Islington Chapll was built in 1825, and contains sittings for 
800, nearly 150 of which are free. It cost £1500, and is built upon 
land belonging to St. Martin's Church. 

Wesley Chapel, situate in Constitution-hill, was built in 1828, 
at a cost of £3000, and will accommodate 1,200 persons. 

Bristol-road Chapel.— The outer shell of this building, with 
its church-looking tower and clock, was erected by an unfortunate 
speculator, for the purpose of building steam carriages. It was 
afterwards purchased by the Wesleyan Society, who have altered 
and fitted it up in a neat and suitable style. It has cost £650, and 
contains 420 sittings, half of which are free. 

Oxford-street Chapel. — This chapel (originally intended for 
the Calvinistic Baptists) which is capable of accommodating up- 
wards of 400 persons, was erected in 1790, at a cost of £1,100. It 
was purchased, in 1828, by its present occupiers, the Methodist New 
Connexion, after having rented it for more than 1 7 years. About 
£250 has since been expended iu alterations and improvements. 



120 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

wealth or knowledge; our dress, diet, recreations, &c. change in 
every age. But why is there a change in religion ? Eternal truth is 
everlastingly the same. Religion is purity, which, one would think, 
admits of no change ; if it changes, we should doubt whether it is 
religion. But a little attention to facts will inform us, there is no- 
thing more cliangahle : nor need we wonder, because, man himself 
being changeable, every thing committed to his care will change 
-with him. We may plead his excuse, by observing, his sight is de- 
fective : he may be deceived by viewing an object in one light, or 
attitude, to-day, and another to-morrow. This propensity to change 
might lead us to suspect the authenticity of our own sentiments. 

The apostles certainly formed the church of Rome ; but she has 
undergone the variations of seventeen hundred years. 

The church of England has not only undergone a change since the 
Reformation, but wishes a greater. 

We should suppose the puritan of 1583, and the dissenter of 
1783, were the same ; but although substance and shadow exactly 
resemble each other, no two things differ more. 

The Catholics formerly enjoyed a place for religious worship, near 
St. Bartholomew's Chapel, still called Masshouse-lane; but the rude 
hands of irreligion destroyed it. There was none nearer than Edg- 
baston, two miles distant, till the year 1789, when a chapel was 
erected at Easy-hill.* 



* Now called St. Peter's-place. This chapel was erected by the 
exertions of the Rev. J. Nutt, who was much respected by those who 
knew him, though they differed in religious opinions ; and several 
protestants, especially among the manufacturers, who employed 
Catholic workmen, to whom he made application, generously sub- 
scribed to forward his views. It was enlarged and improved in 
1802, at an expence of nearly £1000 ; and again in 1825, when side 
galleries were erected, and the present burial ground enclosed. Con- 
nected with this chapel are charity schools, and an orphan asylum, 
under the patronage of the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, 
Notwithstanding the enlargment of St. Peter's, it was soon found 
too small for the congregation. In 1809, another Catholic Chapel, 
called St. Chad's, was erected in Shadwell-street. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINfiHAM. 121 

JEWISH SYNAGOGUE. 

We have also among us a remnant of Israel. A people who, when 
masters of their own country, were scarcely ever known to travel, 
and who are now seldom employed in anything else. But though 
they are ever moving, they are ever at home ; who once lived the 
favourite of heaven, and fed upon the cream of the earth ; but now 
are little regarded by either ; whose society is entirely confined to 
themselves, except in the commercial line. 

In the Synagogue, situated in the Froggery, they still preserve 
the faint resemblance of their ancient worship. Their whole appa- 
ratus being no more than the drooping ensigns of poverty. The 
place is rather small, but tolerably filled ; where there appears less 
decorum than in the christian churches. The proverbial expression, 
" as rich as a jew," is not altogether verified in Birmingham ; but 
perhaps time is transferring it to the Quakers. It is rather singular 
that the honesty of a jew is seldom pleaded but by the jew himself.* 

Since the first publication of this work, in 1782, have sprung up 
eleven additional places of worship, exclusive of the Catholic 
Church, transferred from Edgbaston. Ten of these are of dissent- 
ing persuasions ! A truth that, perhaps, may alarm the Right Rev. 
Bench, nay, even the Throne itself. But let me remark for their 
comfort — grant the dissenters that liberty which is the right of 
every human being, and there will not be more peaceable subjects 
in the British empire.f 

THEATRE. 
The practice of the theatre is of great antiquity. We find it in 
repute among the Greeks ; we also find, the more nations are civil- 
ized, the more they have supported the stage. It seems designed 
for two purposes, improvement and entertainment. There are cer- 
tain exuberances that naturally grow in religion, government, and 



* The jews had a new Synagogue built about twenty years ago. 
There are upwards of 300 now resident in Birmingham. 

f In addition to the places of worship already noticed there are 
several smaller ones of different persuasions in the town. 



122 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

private life, which may with propriety be attacked by the poet and 
the comedian, but which can scarcely be reduced by any other 
power. While the stage keeps this great end in view, it answers a 
valuable purpose to the community. The pen of the poet is to re- 
form, not to indulge a corrupt age, as was the case in the days of 
Charles the Second, when indecency was brought on to raise the 
laugh. 

Perhaps there is no period in which the stage was less polluted, 
owing to the inimitable Garrick, than the present ; notwithstanding 
there is yet room for improvement. 

Tragedy is to melt the heart by exhibiting the unfortunate ; sati- 
ate revenge by punishing the unjust tyrant ; to discard vice, and to 
keep undue passions within bounds. 

Comedy holds up folly in a ridiculous light ; whatever conduct 
or character is found in the regions of absurdity, furnishes proper 
materials for the stage, and out of these, the pen of a master will 
draw many useful lessons. — The pulpit and the stage have nearly 
the same use, but not in the same line — that of improving the man. 

The English stage opened about the Conquest, and was wholly 
confined to religion ; in whose service it continued, with very little 
intermission, to the extinction of the Plantagenets. The playhouses 
were the churches, the principal actors the priests, and the perform- 
ances taken from Scripture ; such as the Fall of Man, the Story of 
Joseph, Sampson, Histories of the Saints, the Sufferings of Christ, 
Resurrection, Day of Judgment, &c. 

Theatrical exhibition in Birmingham is rather of a modern date. 
As far as memory can penetrate, the stroller occupied, occasionally, 
a shed of boards in the fields, now Temple-street : here he acted the 
part of Distress in a double capacity. — The situation was afterwards 
changed, but not the eminence, and the Hinkleys dignified the per- 
former's booth. 

In about 1730, the amusements of the stage rose in a superior style 
of elegance, and entered something like a stable in Castle-street. 
Here the comedian strutted in painted rags, ornamented with tinsel. 
The audience raised a noisy laugh, half real and half forced, at 
three-pence a head. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 123 

In about 1740, a theatre was erected in Moor-street, which rather 
gave a spring to the amusement ; in the day time the comedian beat 
up for volunteers for the night, delivered his bills of fare, and roared 
out an encomium on the excellence of the entertainment, which had 
not always the desired effect. 

In 1751, a company arrived, who announced themselves, " His 
Majesty's Servants, from the Theatres Royal, in London ; and hoped 
the public would excuse the ceremony of the drum, as beneath 
the dignity of a London company."' The novelty had a surprising 
effect ; the performers had merit, the house was continually crowded, 
the general conversation turned upon theatrical exhibition, and the 
town was converted into one vast theatre. 

In 1 752, it was found necessary to erect a larger theatre, that in 
King-street, and we multiplied into two London companies. The 
pulpits took the alarm, and in turn, roared after their customers ; 
but the pious teachers forgot it was only the fervour of a day, which 
would cool of itself; that the fiercer the fire burns the sooner it 
will burn out. This declaration of war fortunately happening at 
the latter end of summer, the campaign was over, and the company 
retreated into winter quarters without hostilities. It was afterwards 
found, that two theatres were more than the town chose to support, 
therefore that in Moor-street was let for a Methodist-meeting.* 

In 1774, the theatre in King-street was enlarged, beautified, and 
made more convenient ; so that it had few equals. About the s;mie 



* "Aug. 17, 1791, while the practice of burning went unpunished, 
the theatre was completely burnt down, and the incendiaries were 
never discovered. The proprietors willing to improve their former 
plan, purchased several of the adjacent houses, and, in the compass 
of four years, erected, perhaps, the most commodious and superb 
theatre in the three kingdoms, London excepted, at the expence of 
£14,000 in the whole. The house will coutain an audience of two 

thousand people, and to it is added a covenient assembly-room. 

Thus Birmingham, like the Phoenix, rises out of its own ashes."' 
This theatre was again destroyed (by accidental fire) in January 
1820. The present building is much larger and more elegant than 
any before on its site. 



124 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

time that in New-street was erected upon a suitable spot, an exten- 
sive plan, and richly ornamented with paintings and scenery. 
Expence seems the least object in consideration. An additional 
and superb portico was erected in 1780, which perhaps may cause 
it to be pronounced " One of the first theatres in Europe." Two 
busts, in relief, of excellent workmanship, are elevated over the attic 
windows ; one is the father, and the other the refiner of the British 
stage — Shakspeare and Garrick. 

Methodism still trod upon the heels of the player, for in 1786, 
the spirit of the stage drooping, the itinerant preacher took posses- 
sion of the vacant theatre in King-street, erected his pulpit upon 
the stage, and converted pit, box, and gallery into pews. 

AMUSEMENTS. 

Man seems formed for variety, whether we view him in a rational 
or an animal light. A sameness of temper, habit, diet, pursuit, or 
pleasure, is no part of his character. The different ages of his life, 
also produce different sentiments ; that which gives us the highest 
relish in one period, is totally flat in another. The bauble that 
pleases at three, would be cast into the fire at threescore ; the same 
hand that empties the purse at twenty, would fill it at fifty ; in age, 
he bends his knee to the same religion which he laughed at in youth; 
the prayer-book, that holds the attention of seventy, holds the 
lottery pictures of seven ; and the amorous tale that awakes the 
ideas at twenty-five, lulls old age to sleep. Not only life is produc- 
tive of change, but every day in it. If a man would take a minute 
survey of his thoughts and employments for only twenty-four 
hours, he would be astonished at their infinite variety. 

Though industry be the ruling passion of this ingenious race, yet 
relaxation must follow, as one period to another. Society is there- 
fore justly esteemed an everlasting fund of amusement, which is 
found at the tavern in the winter evening. Intoxication is seldom 
met with, except in the inferior ranks,where it is visible in both sexes. 

A regular concert is established, where the music is allowed to 
excel. This harmonious science, like other productions of taste, 
though it be not the general study of the inhabitants, has made an 
amazing progress during the last thirty years. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 1^5 

Assemblies are held weekly, which give room for beauty to figure 
at cards, in conversation, and in the dance. 

The pleasures of the field claim their votaries ; but in a populous 
country, like that of •Birmingham, plenty of game is not to be ex- 
pected ; for want of wild-fowl, therefore, the shooter has been known 
to attack the tame. However, the farmer need not be under any 
great concern for his property ; the sportsman seldom does anything 
with his arms but carrij them. We are more famous for making^ 
than using the gun. 

A pack of hounds have sometimes been kept by subscription, 
termed, the Birmingham Hunt ; but, as the sound of the dogs and 
the anvil never harmonized together, they have been long in disuse. 
The jocund tribe, therefore, having no scent of their own, fall into 
that of the neighbouring gentry, many of whom support a pack. 

The man of reflection finds amusement in domestic resources ; 
and in his own mind if unoppressed. Here the treasures collected 
from men, books, and observation, are laid up for many years^ 
from which he draws pleasure without diminishing the stock. The 
universal riches of nature and of art ; the past, the present, and a 
glimpse of the future lie open to his eye. Two obstructions only 
bound his ideas, time and space. He steps from planet to planet,, 
and if he cannot enter immensity, he can verge upon its borders. — 
I pity the man who, through poverty, cannot find wafmth by his 
own fire side; but I pity him more who, through poverty of thought, 
cannot find happiness. 

For the entertainment of summer, exclusive of the theatre, there 
are five greens, where the gentlemen are amused with bowls and the 
ladies with tea. 

There are also a great variety of public gardens, suited to every 
class of people of which Duddeston, the ancient seat of the Holte 
family, claims the pre-eminence. 

The fishing-rod, that instrument which destroys in peace, must 
find a place : other animals are followed with fire and tumult, but 
the fishes are entrapped with deceit. Of all the sportsmen, we charge 
the angler alone with killing in cold hlood. Just as a pursuit 
abounds with pleasures, so will it abound with votarie». The plea- 



126 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

sure of angling depends on the success of the line : this art is but 
little practised here, and less known. Our rivers are small, and 
thinly stored ; our pools are guarded as private property ; the Bir- 
mingham spirit is rather too active for the sleepy amusement of fish- 
ing. Patience seems the highest accomplishment of an angler. We 
behold him fixed as a statue on the bank, his head inclining towards 
the river, his attention upon the water, his eye upon the float ; he 
often draws, and draws only his hook ! but although he gets no 
bite, it may fairly be said he is hit : of the two, the fish displays the 
most cunning. He, surprised that he has caught nothing, and I 
that he has kept his rod and his patience. 

Party excursion is held in considerable esteem, in which are in- 
cluded Enville, the seat of Lord Stamford ; Hagley, that of the late 
Lord Lyttelton ; and the Leasowes, the property of the late William 
Shenstone, Esq. We will omit the journey to London, a tour which 
some of us have made all our lives roithout seeing it. 

Cards and the visit are linked together, nor is the billiard table 
totally forsaken. One man amuses himself in amassing a fortune, 
and another in dissolving one. 

About thirty-six of the inhabitants keep carriages for their own 
private use (in 1780), and near fifty have country houses. The re- 
laxations of the humbler class, are fives, quoits, skittles, and ale. 

Health and amusement are found in the prodigious number of pri- 
vate gardens, scattered round Birmingham, from which we often 
behold the father returning with a cabbage, and the daughter with a 
nosegay. 

HOTEL. 

The spot where our great-grandmothers smiled in the lively 
dance, when they possessed the flower of beauty in the spring of 
life, is lost in forgetfulness. The floor that trembled under that 
foot which was covered with a leather shoe, tied with a silken string, 
and which supported a stocking of dark blue worsted, not of the 
finest texture, is now buried in oblivion. 

In 1 750, we had two assembly rooms ; one at No. 11 , in the 
Square, the other No. 85, in Bull-street. This last was not much 
in use afterwards. That in the Square continued in repute till in 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 127 

the course of that evening which happened in October, 1765, when 
Edward Duke of York had the honour of leading down the dance, 
and the ladies of Birmingham enjoyed that of the Duke's hand. 
He remarked, " That a town of such magnitude as Birmingham, 
and adorned with so much beauty, deserved a superior accommo- 
dation ; that the room itself was mean, but the entrance meaner." 
Truth is ever the same, whether it comes from a prince or a pea- 
sant ; but its effects are not. Whether some secret charm attended 
the Duke's expression, that blasted the town, is uncertain, but it 
never after held its former eminence. 

In 1772, a building was erected by subscription, upon the Ton- 
tine principle, at the head of Temple- row, and was dignified with 
the French name of Hotel. From a handsome entrance the ladies 
are now led through a spacious saloon, at the extremity of which 
the eye is struck with a grand flight of steps, opening into an 
assembly-room, which would not disgrace even the royal presence 
of the Duke's brother. 

The pile itself is large, plain, and elegant, but standing in the 
same line with the other buildings, which before were really genteel, 
eclipses them by its superiority ; whereas, if the hotel had fallen 
a few feet back, it would, by breaking the line, have preserved the 
beauty of the row, without losing its own. 

WAKES. 

This ancient custom was left us by the Saxons. Time, that makes 
alteration only in other customs, has totally inverted this. 

When a church was erected, it was immediately called after a 
saint, put under his protection, and the day belonging to that saint 
kept in the church as a high festival. In the evening preceding the 
inhabitants, with lights, approached the church, and kept a conti- 
nual devotion during the whole night ; hence the name make. — 
After which they entered into festivity. But now the devotional 
part is forgot, the church is deserted, and the festivity turned into 
riot, drunkenness, and mischief. 

Without searching into the mouldy records of time, for evidence 
to support our assertion, we may safely pronounce the wake the 



128 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

lowest of all low amusements, and completely suited to the lowest 
of tempers. 

AVakes have been deemed a public concern, and the legislature 
has been obliged to interpose for the sake of that order which pri- 
vate conduct could never boast. In the reign of Henry the Sixth, 
every consideration, whether of a public or private nature, gave 
way to the wake. The harvest in particular was neglected. An 
order therefore issued, confining the wakes to the first Sunday in 
October, consequently the whole nation run mad at once. 

Wakes in Birmingham are not ancient ; why St. Martin's, then 
the only church, was neglected is uncertain. Although we have no 
wakes for the town, there are three kept in its borders, called De- 
ritend, Chapel, and Bell wakes. The two first are in the spring of 
existence, the last in the falling leaf of autumn. 

Deritend wake probably took its rise at the erection of her chapel, 
in 1383. Chapel wake, in 1 750, from St. Bartholomew's Chapel, 
is held in the meridian of Coleshill-street ; was hatched and fos- 
tered by the publicans, for the benefit of the spiggot. Among 
other amusements, was that of bull-baiting, till the year 1 773, when 
the commissioners of lamps, in the amendment of their act, wisely 
broke the chain, and procured a reprieve for the unfortunate ani- 
mal. Another was the horse-race, but a few years ago, a person 
being killed, rather slackened the entertainment. What singular 
genius introduced the horse-race into a crowded street, I am yet to 
learn. In the evening the passenger cannot proceed without danger, 
in the morning he may discover which houses are public without 
any other intelligence than the copious streams that have issued 
from the wall. The blind may distinguish the same thing by the 
strong scent of the tap. 

Bell wake is the junior by one year, originating from the same cause, 
in 1751, in consequence of ten bells being hung up in St. Philip's 
steeple. — Till within these few years, we were at this wake struck 
with a singular exhibition, that of a number of boys running a 
race through the streets naked. Some of the inhabitants seeing so 
fair a mark for chastisement, applied the rod with success, put a 
period to the sport, and obliged the young runners to run under 
cover. - 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 129 

CLUBS. 

It may be expected, from the title of this chapter, that I shall 
introduce a set of ruffians, armed with massive weapons ; or, having 
named a trump, a set of gamblers shuffling and dealing out the 
cards. But whatever veneration I may entertain for these two fag 
ends of our species, I shall certainly introduce a class of people, 
which, though of the lower orders, are preferable to both. 

Social compact is a distinguishing mark of civilization. The 
whole British empire may be justly considered as one grand alliance, 
united for public and private interest, and this vast body of people 
are subdivided into an infinity of smaller fraternities, for individual 
benefit. 

Perhaps there are hundreds of these societies in Birmingham, 
under the name of clubs ; some of them boast the antiquity of a 
century, and by prudent direction have acquired a capital, at accu- 
mulating interest. Thousands of the inhabitants are connected, 
nay, to be otherwise is rather unfashionable, and some are people 
of sentiment and property. 

A variety of purposes are intended by these laudable institutions ; 
but the principal one, is that of supporting the sick. Each society 
is governed by a code of laws of its own making, which have at 
least the honour of resembling those of legislature, for words with- 
out sense are found in both, and we sometimes stumble upon con- 
tradiction. 

The poor's rates, enormous as they appear, are softened by these 
brotherly aids ; they tend also to keep the mind at rest, for a man 
will enjoy the day of health, with double relish, when he considers 
he has a treasure laid up for that of sickness. If a member only of 
a poor family be sick, the head still remains to procure necessaries ; 
but if that head be disordered, the whole source of supply is dried 
up, which evinces the utility of such institutions. 

The general custom is to meet at the public every fortnight, spend 
a trifle, and each contribute six-pence, or any stated sum, to the 
common stock. The landlord is always treasurer, or father, and is 
assisted by two stewards, annually or monthly chosen. 



130 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

As honour and low life are not always found together, we some- 
times see a man who is rather idle, wish the society may suppose 
him sick, that he may rob them with more security. Or, if a mem- 
ber hangs long upon the box, his brethren seek a pretence to expel 
him. On the other hand, we frequently observe a man silently 
retreat from the club, if another falls upon the box, and fondly 
suppose himself no longer a member ; or if the box be loaded with 
sickness, the whole club has been known to dissolve, that they may 
rid themselves of the burden ; but the Court of Requests finds an 
easy remedy for these evils, and at a trifling expence. 

The charity of the club is also extended beyond the grave, and 
terminates with a present to the widow. 

The philosophers tell us, " There is no good without its kindred 
evil." This amiable body of men, marshalled to expel disease, has 
one small alloy, and perhaps but one. As liquor and labour are 
inseparable, the imprudent member is apt to forget to quit the club 
room when he has spent his necessary two-pence, but continues 
there to the injury of his family. 

Another of these institutions is the rent club, where, from the 
weekly sums deposited by the members, a sop is regularly served 
\ip twice a year, to prevent the growlings of a landlord. 

In the breeches club every member ballots for a pair, promised 
of more value by the maker. This club dissolves when all the 
members are served. 

The intentions of the book chcb are well known, to catch the pro- 
ductions of the press as they rise. 

The wateh club has generally a watchmaker for its president, 
is composed of young men, and is always temporary. 

If a tailor be short of employment, he has only to consult a land- 
lord over a bottle, who, by their joint powers, can give birth to a 
clotlies club ; where every member is supplied with a suit to his 
taste, of a stipulated price. These are chiefly composed of batche- 
lors, who wish to shine in the eye of the fair. 

Thus a bricklayer stands at the head of the building club, where 
every member perhaps subscribes two guineas per month, and each 
house, value about one hundred pounds, is ballotted for as soon as 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 131 

erected. As a house is a weighty concern, every member is obliged 
to produce two bondsmen for the performance of the covenants. 

I will venture to pronounce another the capital cluh, for when 
the contributions amount to fifty pounds, the members ballot for 
this capital, to bring into business : here also securities are necessary. 
It is easy to conceive the two last clubs are extremely beneficial to 
building and to commerce. 

The last I shall enumerate is the clock cluh. When the weekly 
deposits of the members amount to about four pounds, they cast 
lots who shall be first served with a clock of that value, and con- 
tinue the same method till the whole club is supplied ; after which 
the clock-maker and landlord cast about for another set who are 
chiefly composed of young housekeepers. Hence the beginner or- 
naments his premises with furniture, the artist finds employment 
and profit, and the publican empties his barrel. 

REMARKS. 

Thus we have taken a transient survey of this rising colony of arts, 
uniting observation with fact. We have seen her dark manufactures, 
in darker times : we have attended her through her commercial, 
religious, political, and pleasurable walks : have viewed her in 
many points of light, but never in decline, till we have now set her 
in the fair sunshine of the present day. 

Perhaps I shall not be charged with prolixity, that unpardonable 
sin against the reader, when it is considered, that three thousand 
years are deposited in the compass of so few pages. 

Some other circumstances deserve attention, which could not be 
introduced without breaking the thread of history ; but as that 
thread is now drawn to an end, I must before I resume it, step back 
into the recesses of time, and slumber through the long ages of 
seventeen hundred years. 

ICKNIELD-STREET. 
About five furlongs north of the Navigation Bridge, in Great 
Charles-street, which was, in 1 795, the boundary of the present 
buildings, runs the Icknield-street, one of those famous pretorian 



132 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

roads which mark the Romans with conquest, and the Britons with 
slavery. 

By that time a century had elapsed, from the first landing of 
Caesar in Britain, the victorious Romans had carried their arms 
through the southern part of the isle. They therefore endeavoured 
to secure the conquered provinces by opening four roads, which 
should each rise in the shore, communicate with, and cross each 
other, form different angles, extend over the island several ways, 
and terminate in the opposite sea. 

These are the Watling-street, which rises near Dover, and running 
north-west through London, Atherstone, and Shropshire, in the 
neighbourhood of Chester, ends in the Irish Sea. 

The Foss begins in Devonshire, extends north-east through Lei- 
cestershire, continuing its course through Lincolnshire, to the verge 
of the German ocean. 

These two roads, crossing each other at right angles form a figure 
resembling the letter X, whose centre is the High Cross, which di- 
vides the counties of Warwick and Leicester. 

The Ermine-street extends along the southern part of the island, 
near the British channel ; and the Icknield-street, which I cannot 
so soon quit, rises near Southampton, extends nearly north, through 
Winchester, Wallingford, and over the Isis, at New Bridge; thence 
to Burford, crossing the Foss at Stow-in-the-Woulds, over Bitford 
Bridge, in the county of Warwick, to Alcester ; by Studley, Ipsley, 
Beeiey, Wetherick-hill, Stutley-street ; crosses the road from Bir- 
mingham to Bromsgrove, at Selley Oak, leaving Harborne a mile to 
the left, also the Hales Owen road, a mile west of Birmingham; 
thence by the Observatory in Lady-wood-lane, where it enters the 
parish of Birmingham, crossing the Dudley road at the Sand-pits ; 
along Wharston-lane, through the little pool and Hockley Brook, 
where it quits the parish ; thence over Handsworth Heath, entering 
a little lane on the right of Bristle-land's-end, and over the river 
Tame, at Offord House (Oldford) directly to Sutton Coldfield. It 
passes the Ridgway 126 yards east of King's Standing, a little arti- 
ficial mount , on which Charles the First is said to have stood when 
he harangued the troops he brought out of Shropshire, at the open. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 133 

ing of the civil wars in 1642. From thence the road proceeds 
through Sutton Park and the remainder of the Coldfield ; over 
Radley Moor, from thence to Wall, a Roman station, where it meets 
the Watling-street. Leaving Lichfield a mile to the left, it leads 
through Street-hay, over Fradley Heath ; thence through Alder- 
washays, crossing the river Trent at Wichnor Bridge, to Branson 
Turnpike, over Branson Moor, where, for about 200 yards, it is 
yet visible — here it appears noble in its ancient Roman dress, though 
in tatters ; then over Burton Moor, leaving the town half a mile to 
the right ; thence to Monk's Bridge, upon the river Dove ; along 
Egington Heath, Littleover, the Rue Dyches, Stepping Lane, Nun 
Green, and Darley Slade, to the river Derwent, one mile above 
Derby, upon the eastern banks of which stands Little Chester, built 
by the Romans. 

If the traveller is tired with this tedious journey and dull descrip- 
tion, which admits of no variety, we will stop for a moment, and re- 
fresh in this Roman city. 

In drawing the flewks of his oar along the bed of the river, as he 
boats over it, he may feel the foundations of a Roman bridge, nearly 
level with its bottom. Joining the water are the vestiges of a castle, 
now an orchard. Roman coins are frequently discovered ; in 1765, 
I was presented with one of Vespasian's, found the year before in 
scowering a ditch ; but I am sorry to observe it has suffered more 
during the fifteen years in my possession, than during the fifteen 
hundred it lay in the earth. 

The inhabitants being in want of materials to form a turnpike 
road, attempted to pull up this renowned military way, for the sake 
of those materials, but found them too strongly cemented to admit 
of an easy separation, and therefore desisted when they had taken 
up a few loads. 

I saw the section of this road cut up from the bottom ; the Ro- 
mans seem to have formed it with infinite labour and expence. They 
took out the soil for about twenty yards wide and one deep, perhaps 
till they came to a firm bottom, and filled up the whole with stones 
of all sizes, brought from Duffield, four miles up the river, cemented 
with coarse mortar. 



134 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The road here is only discoverable by its barren track along the 
cultivated meadows. It then proceeds over Morley Moor, through 
Scarsdale, by Chesterfield, Balsover, through Yorkshire, Northum- 
berland, and terminates upon the banks of the Tine, near Tinmouth. 
There are many roads in England formed by the Romans ; they 
were of two kinds, the military which crossed the island, and 
the smaller which extended from one town to another. The four I 
have mentioned come under the first class ; they rather avoided 
than led through a town that they might not be injured by traffick. 

Two of these four, the Watling-street and the Tcknield-street, are 
thought, by their names, to be British, and with some reason ; nei- 
ther of the words are derived from the Latin ; but, whatever were 
there origin, they are certainly of Roman construction. 

These great roads were begun as soon as the island was subdued, 
to employ the military, and awe the natives, and were divided into 
stages ; at the end of each was a fort, or station, to accommodate 
the guard, for the reception of stores, the conveniency of marching 
parties, and to prevent the soldiers from mixing with the Britons. 

The stations upon the Icknield-street, in our neighbourhood, 
are Little Chester (Derventione) a square fort, nearly half an acre ; 
joining the road to the north, and the Derwent to the west. 

The next is Burton-upon-Trent (Ad Trivonam) thirteen miles 
south. Here I find no remains of a station. 

Then Wall (Etocetum) near Lichfield, which I have examined 
with great labour, or rather with great pleasure. Here the two fa- 
mous consular roads cross each other. We should expect a fort in 
the angle, commanding both, which is not the case. The Watling- 
street is lost for about half a mile, leading over a morass, only the 
line is faintly preserved by a blind path over the inclosures ; the 
Icknield-street crosses it in this morass, not the least traces of which 
remain. But, by a strict attention I could point out their junction 
to a few yards. 

Six furlongs west of this junction, and one hundred yards north 
of Watling-street, in a close, now about three acres, are the remains 
of the Roman fortress. This building of strength and terror is re- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 135 

duced to one piece of thick wall, visibly of Roman workmanship, 
from whence the place derives its modern name. 

Can you, says I to a senior peasant, for I love to appeal to old 
age, tell the origin of that building ? 

" No ; but we suppose it has been a church. The ruins were 
much larger in my memory ; but they were lately destroyed to 
bring the land into that improved state of cultivation in which you 
see it." 

And so you reduced a fortress in four years which the Britons 
never could in four hundred. For a trifling profit you erase the 
work of the ancients, and prevent the wonder of the moderns. Are 
you apprised of any old walls under the surface ? 

" Yes, the close is full of them ; I have broke three ploughs in 
one day ; no tool will stand against them. It has been more expen- 
sive to bring the land into its present condition than the freehold is 
worth." 

Why you seem more willing to destroy than your tools, and more 
able than time. The works which were the admiration of ages you 
bury under ground. What the traveller comes many miles to see, 
you assiduously hide. What could be the meaning that the Ro- 
mans erected their station on the declivity of this hill, when the 
summit, two hundred yards distant, is much more eligible. Are 
there no foundations upon it ? 

" None." 

The commandry is preferable ; the Watling-street runs by it, and 
it is nearer the Icknield-street. Pray, are you acquainted with 
another Roman road that crosses it ? 

"No." 

Do you know any close about the village where a narrow bed of 
gravel, which runs a considerable length, has impeded the plough ? 

" Yes, there is a place half a mile distant, where, when a child, I 
drove the plough ; we penetrated a land of gravel, and my compa- 
nion's grandfather told us it had been an old road." 

That is the place I want, lead me to it. Being already master of 
both endij of the road, like a broken line, with the centre worn ont, 
the gravel bed enabled me to recover it. 



136 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The next station upon the Icknield-street is Birmingham (Bre- 
menium) I have examined this country with care ; but find no ves- 
tiges of a station ; nor shall we wonder, desolation is the preserver 
of antiquity, nothing of which reign here ; the most likely place is 
Worston (Wall-stone) which a younger brother of Birmingham 
might afterwards convert into the fashionable moat of the times, 
and erect a castle. The next station is Alcester (Alauna) all which 
are nearly at equal distances. 

In forming these grand roads, a straight direction seems to have 
been their leading maxim. Though curiosity has led me to travel 
many hundred miles upon their roads, with the eye of an enquirer, 
I cannot recollect one instance where they ever broke the line to 
avoid a hill, a swamp, a rock, or a river. 

They were well acquainted with the propriety of an old English 
adage, Once well done is twice done ; an idea new clothed by 
Lord Chesterfield, If a thing he worth doing at all, it is worth 
doing well. For their roads were so durably constructed, that, had 
they been appropriated only to the use intended, they might have 
withstood the efforts of time, and bid fair for eternity. Why is this 
useful art so lost among the moderns ? 

When time and intercourse had so far united the Romans and 
the Britons, that they approached nearly to one people, the Romans 
formed, or rather improved, many of the smaller roads ; placed 
stones of intelligence upon them; hence London Stone, Stony 
Stratford (the stone at the Street-ford) Atherstone (hither, near, or 
first stone from Witherly-bridge, a Roman camp) and fixed their 
stations in the places to which these roads tended. 

The great roads, as observed before, were chiefly appropriated for 
military purposes, and instituted in the beginning of their govern- 
ment; but the smaller were of later date, and designed for common 
use. As these came more in practice, there was less occasion for 
the military ; which, not leading to their towns, were, in process of 
time, nearly laid aside. 

Antonine, and his numerous train of commentators, have not be- 
stowed that attention on the roads they deserve : a curious acquain- 
tance with the roads of a country, brings us acquainted with the 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 137 

manners of the people : in one, like a mirror, is exactly represented 
the other. Their state, like a master key, unlocks many apart- 
ments. 

The authors I have seen are all in the wrong ; and as my re- 
searches are confined, it is a mortification, I am not able to set them 
right. They have confounded the two classes together, which were 
very distinct in chronology, the manner of making, and their use. 
If an author treats of one old road, he supposes himself bound to 
treat of all in the kingdom, a task no man can execute: by under- 
taking much, we do nothing well ; the journey of an antiquarian 
should never be rapid. If fortune offers a small discovery, let hira 
think and compare. Neither will they ever be set right, but con- 
tinue to build a mouldering fabric, M^ith mitempered mortar, till a 
number of intelligent residents, by local enquiries, can produce solid 
materials for a lasting monument. 

The Romans properly termed their ways streets, a name retained 
by many of them to this day ; one of the smaller roads, issuing from 
London, penetrates through Stratford-upon-Avon, (Street-ford), 
Monkspath-street, and Shirley-street, to Birmingham, which proves 
it of great antiquity ; and the Icknield-street running by it proves 
it of greater. We may from hence safely conclude Birmingham was a 
place of note in the time of Caesar, because she merited legislative 
regard in forming their roads, which will send us far back among 
the Britons to find her first existence. 

Though we are certain the Icknield-street passes about a mile in 
length through this parish, as described above, yet, as there are no 
Roman traces to be seen, I must take the curious traveller to that vast 
waste called Sutton Coldfield , about four miles distant, where he will, in 
the same road, find the footsteps of those great masters of the world, 
marked in lasting characters. He will plainly see its straight line 
pass over the Ridgway, through Sutton Park, leaving the west 
hedge about 200 yai-ds to the left, through the remainder of the 
Coldfield, till lost in cultivation. 

This track is more than three miles in length, and is nowhere 
else visible in these parts. I must apprize him that its hiohest 

T 



138 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

beauty is only discovered by an horizontal sun in the winter 
months. 

I first saw it in 1762, relieved by the transverse rays, in a clear 
evening in November ; I had a perfect view upon the Ridgway, 
near King's Standing, of this delightful scene. Had I been at- 
tacked by the chill blasts of winter upon this bleak mountain, the 
sensation would have been lost in the transport. The eye, at one 
view, takes in more than two miles. Struck with astonishment, I 
thought it the grandest sight I had ever beheld, and was amazed so 
noble a monument of antiquity should be so little regarded. 

The poets have long contended for the line of beauty — they may 
find it here. I was fixed as by enchantment till the sun dropt my 
prospect with it, and I left the place with regret. 

If the industrious traveller chooses to wade up to the middle in 
gorse, as I did, he may find a roughish journey along this famous 
military way. 

Perhaps this is the only road in which money is of no use to the 
traveller ; for upon this barren v.ild he can neither spend it nor 
give it away. 

He will perceive the Coldfield, about 13,000 acres, to be one vast 
bed of gravel, covered with a moderate depth of soil of eight or ten 
inches. During this journey of three miles, he will observe all the 
way, on each side, a number of pits, perhaps more than a thousand, 
out of which the Romans procured the gravel to form the road, 
none of them many yards from it. This great number of pits tends 
to prove two points — that the country was full of timber, which 
they not choosing to fall, procured the gravel in the interstices, for 
the road is composed of nothing else — and, that a great number of 
people were employed in its formation. They would also, with the 
trees properly disposed, which the Romans must inevitably cut to 
procure a passage, form a barrier to the road. 

This noble production was designed by a master, is everywliere 
straight, and executed with labour and judgment. 

Here he perceives the date of his own conquest, and of his civili- 
zation. Thus the Romans humbled a ferocious people. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 139 

If he chooses to measure it, he will fiad it exactly sixty feet wide, 
divided into three lands, resembling those in a ploughed field. — 
The centre land thirty-six feet, and raised from one to three, ac- 
cording to the nature of the ground. The side lands, twelve each, 
and rising seldom more than one foot. 

This centre land no doubt was appropriated for the march of the 
troops, and the small one, on each side, for the out-guards, who 
preserved their ranks, for fear of a surprise from the vigilant and 
angry Britons. 

The Romans held these roads in great esteem, and were severe in 
their laws for their preservation. 

This famous road is visible all the way, but in some parts greatly 
hurt, and in others complete as the first day the Romans made it. 
Perhaps the inquisitive traveller may find here the only monument 
in the whole island left us by the Romans, that time hath not in- 
jured. 

The philosophical traveller may make some curious observations 
in the line of agriculture yet in its infancy. 

The only growth upon this wild is gorse and ling, the vegetation 
upon the road and the adjacent lands, seem equal, the pits are all 
covered with a tolerable turf. 

As this road has been made about 1 730 years, and, as at the 
time of making, both that and the pits must have been surfaces of 
neat gravel, he will be led to examine what degree of soil they have 
acquired in that long course of years, and by what means. 

He well knows, that the surface of the earth is very far from being 
a fixed body ; that there is a continual motion in every part, stone 
excepted ; that the operations of the sun, the air, the frost, the 
dews, the winds, and the rains, produce a constant agitation, which 
changes the particles and the pores, tends to promote vegetation, and 
to increase the soil to a certain depth. 

This progress is too minute for the human eye, but the efiTects are 
visible. The powers above mentioned operate nearly as yeast in a 
lump of dough, that enlivens the whole. Nature seems to wish 
that the foot would leave the path, that she may cover it with grass. 



110 HISTORY OF BIliMINGHAM. 

Ha will find this vegetative power so strong, that it even attends the 
small detached parts of the soil, wherever they go, provided they 
are within reach of air and moisture : He will not only observe it in 
the small pots, appropriated for garden use, but on the tops of houses, 
remote from any road, where the wind has carried any small dust. 
He will also observe it in cracks of the rocks ; but in an amazing 
degree in the thick walls of ruined castles, where, by a long course 
of time, the decayed materials are converted into a kind of soil, and 
so well covered with grass, that if one of our old castle builders 
could return to his possessions, he might mow his house as well as 
his field, and procure a tolerable crop from both. 

In those pits, upon an eminence, the soil will be found deep 
enough for any mode of husbandry. In those of the vallies, which 
take in the small drain of the adjacent parts, it is much deeper. 
That upon the road, which rather gives than receives any addition 
from drain, the average depth is about four inches. 

The soil is not only increased by the causes above, but also by 
the constant decays of the growth upon it. The present vegetable 
generation falling to decay, adds to the soil, and also, assists the next 
generation, which in a short time follows the same course. 

The Author of the History of Sutton says, " The poor inhabitants 
are supplied with fuel from a magazine of peat, near the Roman 
road, composed of thousands of fir trees cut down by the Romans 
to enable them to pass over a morass. The bodies of the trees are 
sometimes dug up sound, with the marks of the axe upon them." 

Are we then to suppose, by this curious historical anecdote, that 
the inhabitants of Sutton have run away with this celebrated piece 
of antiquity ? That the cart, instead of rolling over the military 
way, has rolled under it, and that they have boiled the pot with the 
Roman road. 

Upon inquiry, they seemed more inclined to credit the fact, than 
able to prove it; but I can find no such morass, neither is the road 
any where broken up. Perhaps it would be as difficult to find the 
trees, as the axe that cut them. Besides, the fir is not a native of 
Britain, but of Russia; and I believe our forefathers, the Britons, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. Ml 

were not complete masters of the art of transplanting. The park of 
Sutton was probably a bed of oaks, the natural weed of the country, 
long before Moses figured in history. 

Whilst the political traveller is contemplating this extraordinary 
production of antiquity, of art, and of labour, his thoughts will 
naturally recur to the authors of it. 

He will find them proficients in science, in ambition, in taste. 
They added dominion to conquest, till their original territory be- 
came too narrow a basis to support the vast fabric acquired by the 
success of their arms. The monstrous bulk fell to destruction by 
its own weight. Man was not made for universality ; if he grasps at 
little, he may retain it ; if at much, he may lose all. The confusion, 
natural on such occasions, produced anarchy. At that moment, 
the military stept into the government, and the people became slaves. 

Upon the ruins of this brave race, the Bishop of Rome founded 
an ecclesiastical jurisdiction. His power increasing with his vota- 
ries, he found means to link all Christendom to the triple crown, 
and acquired an unaccountable ascendency over the human mind. 
The princes of Europe were harnessed, like so many coach horses. 
The pontiff directed the bridle. He sometimes used the whip, and 
sometimes the curse. The thunder of his throne rattled through 
the world with astonishing effect, till that most useful discovery, 
the art of printing, in the fifteenth century, dissolved the charm, 
and set the oppressed cattle at liberty, who began to kick their 
driver. Henry the Eighth of England, was the first unruly animal 
in the papal team, and the sagacious Cranmer assisted in breaking 
the shackles. 

We have, in our day, seen an order of priesthood in the church 
of Rome, annihilated by the consent of the European princes, which 
the Pope beheld in silence. 

" There is an ultimate point of exaltation and reduction, beyond 
which human affairs cannot proceed." Rome seems to have ex- 
perienced both, for she is at this day one of the most contemptible 
states in the scale of empire. 

This will of course lead the traveller's thoughts towards Britain, 
where he will find her sons by nature inclined to a love of arms, 



142 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of liberty, and of commerce. These are the strong outUnes of 
national character, the interior parts of which are finished with the 
softer touches of humanity, of science, and of luxury. He will also 
find, that there is a natural boundary to every country, beyond 
which it is dangerous to add dominion. That the boundary of 
Britain is the sea ; that her external strength is her navy, which 
protects her frontiers, a id her commerce ; that her internal is una- 
nimity ; that when her strength is united within herself, she is in- 
vincible, and the balance of Europe will be fixed in her hand, which 
she ought never to let go. 

But if she accumulates territory, though she may profit at first, 
she weakens her power by dividing it ; for the more she sends 
abroad, the less will remain at home ; and, instead of giving law to 
the tyrant, she may be obliged to receive law from him. 

That, by a multiplicity of additions, her little isles will be lost in 
the great map of dominion. 

That, if she attempts to draw that vast and growing empire, 
America, she may herself be drawn to destruction , for, by every 
Jaw of attraction, the greater draws the less — the mouse was never 
meant to direct the ox. That the military and the ecclesiastical 
powers are necessary in their places, that is, subordinate to the 
civil. 

But my companion will remember that Birmingham is our histo- 
rical mark, therefore we must retreat to that happy abode of the 
smiling arts. If he has no taste for antiquity, I have detained him 
too long upon this hungry, though delightful spot. If he has, he 
will leave the enchanted ground with reluctance ; will often turn 
his head to repeat the view, till the prospect is totally lost. 

LORDS OF THE MANOR. 
By the united voice of our historians, it appears, that as the 
the Saxons conquered province after province, which was effected 
in about one hundred and thirty years, the unfortunate Britons re- 
treated into Wales. But we are not to suppose that all the inha- 
bitants ran away, and left a desolate region to the victor ; this would 
have been of little more value to the conqueror, than the possesion 



IIISTOEY OF BIRMINGHAM. 145 

of Sutton Coldfield or Bromsgrove Lickey. The mechanic and 
the peasant were left, which are by far the greatest number — they 
are also the riches of a country ; stamp a value upon property, and 
it becomes current. As they have nothing to lose, so they have 
nothing to fear ; for let who will be master, they must be drudges. 
Their safety consists in their servitude ; the victor is ever conscious 
of their utility, therefore their protection is certain. 

But the danger lies with the man of substance, and the greater 
that substance, the greater his anxiety to preserve it, and the more 
danger to himself if conquered. These were the people who re- 
treated into Wales. Neither must we consider the wealth of that 
day to consist of bags of cash, bills of exchange, India bonds, bank 
stock, &c. no such thing existed. Property lay in the land, and 
the herds that fed upon it. And here I must congratulate our 
Welch neighbours, who are most certainly descended from gentle- 
men ; and I make no doubt but the Cambrian reader will readily 
unite in the same sentiment. 

The Saxons, as conquerors, were too proud to follow the modes 
of the conquered, therefore they introduced government, laws, 
language, customs, and habits of their own. Hence we date the 
division of the kingdom into manors. 

Human nature is nearly the same in all ages. Where value is 
marked upon property or power, it will find its votaries. Who- 
ever was the most deserving, or rather could make the most inte- 
rest, procured land sufficient for an Elderman, now Earl ; the next 
class a manor, and the inferior, who had borne the heat and bur- 
den of the day — nothing. 

I must now introduce an expression which I promised not to for- 
get. In the course of a trial between William de Birmingham and 
the inhabitants of Bromsgrove and King's Norton, in 1309, con- 
cerning the right of tollage, it appeared that the ancestors of the 
said William had a market here before the Norman conquest. This 
proves that the family of Birmingham were of Saxon race, and lords 
of the manor prior to that period, 

Mercia was not only the largest, but also the last of the seven 
conquered kingdoms. It was bounded on the north by the Hum- 



116 PIISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

ber, on the west by the Severn, on the sonth by the Thames, and 
on the east by the German Ocean. Birmingham lies nearly in the 
centre. Cridda, a Saxon, came over with a body of troops, and 
reduced it in 582 ; therefore, as no after revolution happened that 
could cause Birmingham to change its owner, and as land was not 
in a very saleable state there is the greatest reason to suppose the 
founder of the house of Birmingham came over with Cridda, as an 
officer in his army, and procured this little flourishing dominion as 
a i-eward for his service. 

The succeeding generations of this illustrious family are too re- 
mote for historical penetration, till the reign of Edward the Con- 
fessor, the last of the Saxon kings, when we find, in 1050, 

ULUUINE (since ALWYNE, now ALLEN), 
Master of this improving spot. 

RICHARD, 1066, 

Seems to have succeeded him, and to have lived in that unfortu- 
nate period for property, the Conquest. 

The time was now arrived when this ancient family, with the rest 
of the English gentry, who had lived under the benign climate of 
Saxon government, and in the affluence of fortune, must quit the 
happy regions of hospitality, and enter the gloomy precincts of 
penury. From givers they were to become beggars. 

The whole conduct of William seems to have carried the strong- 
est marks of conquest. Many of the English lost their lives, some 
their liberty, and nearly all their estates. The whole land in the 
kingdom was insufficient to satisfy the hungry Normans. 

Perhaps William took the wisest method to secure the conquered 
country that could be devised by human wisdom ; he parcelled out 
the kingdom among his greater Barons ; the whole county of Ches- 
ter is said to have fallen to the share of Hugh Lupus ; and these 
were subdivided into 62,000 Knight's fees, which were held under 
the great Barons by military service. Thus the Sovereign, by only 
signifying his pleasure to the Barons, could instantly raise an army 
for any purpose. We cannot produce a stronger indication of arbi- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. H7 

trary government ; but, it is happy for the world, that perfection is 
not found even in human wisdom, lor this well-laid scheme de- 
stroyed itself. Instead of making the crown absolute, as was in- 
tended, it threw the balance into the hands of the barons who be- 
came so many petty sovereigns, and a scourge to the king in after 
ages, till Henry the Seventh sapped their power, and raised the 
third estate, the Commons, which quickly eclipsed the other two. 

The English gentry suffered great distress; their complaints 
rung loud in the royal ear, some of them, therefore, who had been 
peaceable and never opposed the Normans, were suffered to enjoy 
their estates in dependance upon the great barons. This was the 
case with Richard, Lord of Birmingham, who held this manor by 
knight's service of William Fitzausculf, Lord of Dudley Castle, 
and perhaps all the land between the two places. Thus Birming- 
ham, now rising towards the meridian of opulence, was a dependant 
upon Dudley Castle, now in ruins ; and thus an honourable family, 
who had enjoyed a valuable freehold, perhaps near 500 years, were 
obliged to pay rent, homage, suit, and service, attend the lord's 
court at Dudley every three weeks, be called into the field at plea- 
sure, and after all possess a precarious tenure in villainage. 

The blood of the ancient English was not only tainted with the 
breath of that destructive age, but their lands also. The powerful 
blast destroyed their ancient freehold tenures, reducing them into 
wretched copyholds, and to the disgrace of succeeding ages, many 
of them retain this mark of Norman slavery to the present day. — 
How defective are those laws, which give one man power over an- 
other in neutral cases ? That tend to promote quarrels, prevent cul- 
tivation, and which cannot draw the line between property and pro- 
perty ? 

Though a spirit of bravery is certainly a part of the British cha- 
racter, yet there are two or three periods in English history when 
this noble flame was totally extinguished. Every degree of resolu- 
tion seems to have been cut off at the battle of Hastings. The 
English acted contrary to their usual manner ; danger had often 
made them desperate, but now it made them humble. This con- 
quest is one of the most extraordinary held forth in history ; the 



14S HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

flower of nobility was wholly nipped off; the spirit of the English 
depressed, and having no head to direct, or hand to cultivate the 
courage of the people and lead it into action, it dwindled at the 
root, was trampled under the foot of tyranny, and, according to 
Smollet, several generations elapsed before any one of the old Eng- 
lish stock blossomed into peerage. 

It is curious to contemplate the revolution of things. Though 
the conquering Romans stood first in the annals of fame at the be- 
ginning of the Christian era, yet they were a whole century in car- 
rying their illustrious arms over the island, occupied only by a des- 
picable race of Britons. Though the Saxons were invited by one 
false step in politics, to assist the Britons in expelling an enemy, 
which gave them an opportunity of becoming enemies themselves, 
yet it was 130 years before they could complete their conquest. — 
And though the industrious Dane poured incessant numbers of 
people into Britain, yet it cost them 200 years, and 150,000 men 
before they reduced it. But William, at one blow, finished the 
dreadful work, shackled her sons to his throne, and governed them 
with a sceptre of iron. Normandy, a petty dukedom, very little 
larger than Yorkshire, conquered a mighty nation in one day* — 
England seems to have been taken by storm and her liberties put to 
the sword. Nor did the miseries of this ill-fated kingdom end 
here, for the continental dominions which William annexed to the 
crown proved a whirlpool for 400 years, which drew the blood and 
treasure of the nation into its vortex, till those dominions were for- 
tunately lost in the reign of Mary the First. 

Thus the Romans spent one century in acquiring a kingdom, 
which they governed for four. The Saxons spent 130 years, and 
ruled for 459. The Danes spent 200 and reigned 25 ; but the Nor- 
man spent one day only, for a reign of 700 years. They continue 
to reign still. 

It is easy to point out some families of Norman race, who yet 
enjoy the estates won by their ancestors at the battle of Hastings. 

WILLIAM, 1130, 
Like his unfortunate father, was in a state of vassalasre. The 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 149 

male line of the Fitzausculfs soon became extinct, and Gervase 
Paganall, marrying the heiress, became Baron of Dudley Castle. 

PETER DE BIRMINGHAM, 1154. 

It is common, in every class of life, for the inferior to imitate 
the superior. If the real lady claims a head-dress sixteen inches 
high, that of the imaginary lady will immediately begin to thrive. 
The family, or surname, entered with William the First, and was 
soon the reigning taste of the day. A person was thought of no 
consequence without a surname, and even the depressed English 
crept into the fashion in imitation of their masters. I have already 
mentioned the Earl of Warwick, father of a numerous race now in 
Birmingham, whose name, before the conquest, was simply Tur- 
chill, but after, Turchill de Arden (Master of the Woods) from his 
own estate. Thus the family of whom I speak, chose to dignify 
themselves with the name oi de Birmingham. 

Peter wisely consulted his own interest, kept fair with Paganall 
his Lord, and obtained from him, in 1 166, nine knight's fees, which 
he held by military service. 

A knight's fee, though uncommon now, was a word well under- 
stood 600 years ago. It did not mean, as some have imagined, fif- 
teen pounds per annum, nor any determinate sum, but as much 
land as would support a gentleman. This Peter was sewer to 
Paganall (waited at bistable) though a man of great property. 

The splendour in which the great barons of that age lived, was 
little inferior to royalty. 

The party distinctions also of Saxon and Norman, in the twelfth 
century, began to die away, as the people became united by interest 
or marriage, like that of whig and tory in the eighteenth. And 
perhaps there is not at present a native that does not carry in his 
veins the blood of the four nations that were grafted upon the 
Britons. 

Peter himself lived in affluence at his castle, then near Birming- 
ham, now the Moat, of which in the next section. He also ob- 
tained from Henry the Second, as well as from Paganall the lord 
paramount, several valuable privileges for his favourite inheritance 



150 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of Birmingham. He bore for his arms, azure, a hend lozenge ^ 
of five points, or ; the coat of his ancestors. 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 1216. 
At the reduction of Ireland, in the reign of Henry the Second, 
a branch of this family, and perhaps uncle to William, was very 
instrumental under Richard Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, in ac- 
complishing that great end ; for which he was rewarded with a large 
estate, and the title of Earl of Lowth, both which continue in his 
family. Perhaps they are the only remains of this honourable 
house. 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 1246. 

By this time the male line of the Paganalls was worn out, and 
Roger de Someri marrying the heiress, became Baron of Dudley, 
with all its dependancies ; but Someri and Birmingham did not keep 
peace, as their fathers had done. William, being very rich, forgot 
to ride to Dudley every three weeks, to perform suit and service at 
Someri 's court. Whereupon a contest commenced to enforce the 
performance. But, in 1262, it was agreed between the contending 
parties — that William should attend the lord's court only twice a 
year, Easter and Michaelmas, and at such other times as the lord 
chose to command by special summons. This William, having 
married the daughter of Thomas de Astley, aman of great eminence, 
and both joining with the barons under Simon Mountfort, Earl of 
Leicester, against Henry the Third, William fell in 1265, at the 
battle of Evesham ; and as the loser is ever the rebel, the barons 
were proscribed, and their estates confiscated. 

The manor of Birmingham, therefore, valued at forty pounds per 
annum, was seized by the King, and given to his favourite, Roger 
de Clifford. 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 1265. 
By a law, called the statute of Kenilworth, every man who had 
forfeited his estate to the crown, by having taken up arms, had liberty 
to redeem his lands, by a certain fine : William therefore paid that 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 151 

fine, and recovered the inheritance of his family. He also, in 1283, 
strengthened his title by a charter from Edward the First, and like- 
wise to the other manors he possessed, such as Stockton, in the 
county of Worcester; Shetford, in Oxfordshire; Maidencoat, in 
Berkshire ; Hoggeston, in the county of Bucks ; and Christleton, in 
Cheshire. 

In 1285, Edward brought his writ of quo warranto^ whereby every 
holder of land was obliged to shew by what title he held it. The 
consequence would have been dreadful to a Prince of less prudence 
than Edward. Some shewed great unwillingness ; for a dormant 
title will not always bear examination ; — but William producing di- 
vers charters, clearly proved his right to every manorial privilege, 
such as market, toll, tem, sack, sok, infangenthief, weyfs, gallows, 
court-leet, and pillory, with a right to fix the standard for bread and 
beer ; all which were allowed. 

William, Lord of Birmingham, being a military tenant, was 
obliged to attend the King into Gascoigne, 1297, where he lost his 
liberty at the siege of Bellgard, and was carried prisoner in triumph 
to Paris. 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 1306. 
This is the man who tried the right of tollage with the people of 
Bromsgrove and King's Norton. 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 

LORD BIRMINGHAM, 1316, 

Was knighted in 1325 ; well affected to Edward the Second, for 
whose service he raised four hundred foot. Time seems to have put 
a period to the family of Someri, Lords of Dudley, as well as to 
those of their predecessors, the Pagnalls, and the Fitzausculfs. 

In 1327, the first of Edward the Third, Sir William was sum- 
moned to Parliament, by the title of William Lord Birmingham, 
but not after. 

It was not the fashion of that day to fill the House of Peers by 
patent. The greater barons held a local title from their baronies ; 
the possessor of one of these claimed a seat among the Lords. I 



152 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

think they are now all extinct, except Arundel, the property of the 
Norfolk family, and whoever is proprietor of Arundel Castle, is 
Earl thereof by ancient prescription. 

The lesser barons were called up to the house by writ, which did 
not confer an hereditary title. Of this class was the Lord of Bir- 
mingham. 

Hugh Spencer, the favourite of the weak Edward the Second, had 
procured the custody of Dudley Castle, with all its appendages, for 
his friend William, Lord Birmingham. Thus the family who had 
travelled from Birmingham to Dudley every three weeks, to perform 
humble suit at the lord's court, held that very court by royal 
appointment, to receive the fealty of others. 

By the patent which constituted William keeper of Dudley Castle, 
he was obliged to account for the annual profits arising from that 
vast estate into the King's Exchequer. When, therefore, in 1334, 
he delivered in his accounts, the barons refused to admit them, be- 
cause the money was defective. But he had interest enough with 
the crown to cause a mandamus to be issued, commanding the ba- 
rons to admit them. 

SIR FOUK DE BIRMINGHAM, 1340. 

This man advanced to Sir Baldwin Freville, Lord of Tamworth, 
forty-eight marks, upon mortgage of five mills. The ancient coat of 
the bend lozengeyVidi.%now cha.u^eMoii\iQ partie per pale, indented , 
or, and gules. 

In 1352 and 1362 he was returned a member for the county of 
Warwick ; also, in three or four succeeding Parliaments. 

SIR JOHN DE BIRMINGHAM, 1376. 

Served the office of Sheriff for the county of Warwick, in 1379, 
and was successively returned to serve in Parliament for the counties 
of Warwick, Bedford, and Buckingham, He married the daughter 
of William de la Planch, by whom he had no issue. She afterwards 
married the Lord Clinton, retained the manor of Birmingham as her 
dower, and lived to the year 1424. 

It does not appear in this illustrious family, that the regular line 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 153 

of descent, from father to son, was ever broken, from the time of the 
Saxons, till 1390. This Sir John left a brother, Sir Thomas de 
Birmingham, heir at law, who enjoyed the bulk of his brother's for- 
tune ; but was not to possess the manor of Birmingham till the 
widow's death, which not happening till after his own, he never en- 
joyed it. 

The Lord Clinton and his Lady seem to have occupied the manor 
house ; and Sir Thomas, unwilling to quit the place of his affections, 
and of his nativity, erected a castle for himself at Worstone, near the 
Sand Pits, joining the Icknield-street ; where, though the building 
is totally gone, the vestiges of its liquid security are yet complete. 
This Sir Thomas enjoyed several public offices, and figured in the 
style of his ancestors. He left a daughter, who married Thomas de 
la Roche, and from this marriage sprang two daughters ; the eldest 
of which married Edmund, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, who, at the 
decease of Sir John's widow, inherited the manor, and occupied the 
Manor-house. There yet stands a building on the North-east side 
of the Moat, erected by this Lord Ferrers, with his arms in the tim- 
bers of the ceiling, and the crest, a horse shoe. I take this house to 
be the oldest in Birmingham, though it has not that appearance, 
having stood about 360 years. 

By an entail of the manor upon the male line, the Lady Ferrers 
seems to have quitted her title in favour of a second cousin, a descen- 
dant of William de Birmingham, brother to Sir Fouk, 

WILLIAM DE BIRMINGHAM, 1430, 
In the 19th of Henry the Sixth, 1441, is said to have held his 
manor of Birmingham, of Sir John Sutton, Lord of Dudley, by 
military service ; but instead of paying homage, fealty, escuage, &c. 
as his ancestors had done, which was very troublesome to the tenant, 
and brought only empty honour to the Lord : and, as sometimes 
the lord's necessities taught him to think that money was more 
solid than suit and service, an agreement was entered into, for mo- 
ney instead of homage, between the lord and the tenant. Such 
agreements now became common. Thus land became a kind of bas- 
tard freehold ; the tenant held, a certainty while he conformed to 



154 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

the agreement ; or in other words the custom of the manor ; and the 
lord still possessed a material control. He died in 1479, leaving 
a son. 

SIR WILLIAM BIRMINGHAM, 1479. 
Aged thirty at the decease of his father. He married Isabella, 
heiress of William Hilton, by whom he had a son, William, who 
died before his father, June 7, 1500, leaving a son. 

EDWARD BIRMINGHAM, 1500. 

Born in 1497, and succeeded his grandfather at the age of three. 
During his minority, Henry the Seventh, 1502, granted the ward- 
ship to Edward, Lord Dudley. 

The family estate then consisted of the manors of Birmingham, 
Over Warton, Nether Warton, Mock Tew, Little Tew, and Shut- 
ford in the county of Oxford, Hoggeston in Bucks, and Billesley in 
the county of Worcester. Edward afterwards married Elizabeth, 
widow of William Ludford, of Annesley, by whom he had one 
daughter, who married a person of the name of Atkinson. 

But after the peaceable possession of a valuable estate for 37 years 
the time was now arrived when the mounds of justice must be 
broken down by the weight of power, a whole deluge of destruction 
enter, and overwhelm an ancient and illustrious family in the per- 
son of an innocent man. The world would view the diabolical 
transaction with amazement, none daring to lend assistance to the 
unfortunate, not considering that property should ever be under the 
protection of law, and what was Edward's case to-day, might be 
that of any other man to-morrow. But the oppressor kept fair with 
the crown, and the crown held a rod of iron over the people. Suf- 
fer me to tell the mournful tale from DugdaWs Antiquities of War- 
rvickshire. 

1537. 

John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, a man of great wealth, 
unbounded ambition, and one of the basest characters of the age, was 
possessor of Dudley Castle and the fine estate belonging to it. He 
wished to add Birmingham to his vast domain. Edward Bir- 
mingham therefore was privately sounded, respecting the disposal 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 155 

of his manor; but as money was not wanted, and as the place had 
been the honour and the residence of his family for many centuries, 
it was out of the reach of purchase. 

Northumberland was so charmed with its beauty, he was deter- 
mined to possess it ; and perhaps the manner in which he accomp- 
lished his design, cannot be paralleled in the annals of infamy. 

He procured two or three rascals of his own temper, and rather 
of mean appearance, to avoid suspicion, to take up their quarters for 
a night or two in Birmingham, and gain secret intelligence when 
Edward Birmingham should ride out, and what road. This done, 
one of the rascals was to keep before the others, but all took care 
that Edward should easily overtake them. Upon his arrival at the 
first class, the villains joined him, entered into chat, and all moved 
soberly together till they reached the first man ; when, on a sud- 
den, the strangers with Edward drew their pistols and robbed their 
brother villain, who no doubt lost a considerable sum after a decent 
resistance. Edward was easily known, apprehended, and commit- 
ted as one of the robbers ; the others were not to be found. 

Edward immediately saw himself on the verge of destruction- 
He could only allege^ but not prove his innocence. All the proof 
the case could admit of was against him. 

Northumberland (then only Lord L'Isle) hitherto had succeeded 
to his wish ; nor was Edward long in suspence. Private hints were 
given him, that the only way to save his life, was to make Northum- 
berland his friend ; and this probably might be done, by resigning 
to him his manor of Birmingham ; with which the unfortunate 
Edward reluctantly complied. 

Northumberland thinking a common conveyance insufficient, 
caused Edward to yield his estate into the hands of the King, and 
had interest enough in that age of injustice to procure a ratification 
from a weak Parliament, by which means he endeavoured to throw 
the odium off" his own character, and fix it upon theirs, and also pro- 
cure to himself a safer title. 

An extract from that base act is as follows : — 

" Whereas Edward Byrmingham, late of Byrraingham in the 
countie of Warwick, Esquire, otherwise callid Edward Byrming- 

V 



1.56 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

bam, Esquire, ys and standyth lawfully indettid to our soverene 
Lord the Kinge, in diverse grete summes of money ; and also 
standyth at the mercy of his Highness, for that the same Edward ys 
at this present convected of felony : Our seide soverene Lord the 
Kinge ys contentid and pleasid, that for and in recompence and 
satisfaction to his Grace of the seyde summes of money, to accept 
and take of the seyde Edward the mannour and lordship of Byrm- 
ingham, otherwise callid Byrmincham, with the appurtinances, 
lying and being in the countie of Warwick, and all and singuler 
other lands and tenements, reversions, and rents, services, and 
hereditaments of the same Edward Byrmingham, set, lying, and 
beying in the countie of Wai*wick aforesaid. Be yt therefore or- 
deyned and enacted, by the authoritie of this present Parliament, 
that our seyde soverene Lord the Kinge shall have, hold, and enjoy, 
to him and his heirs and assigns for ever, the seyde mannour and 
lordship of Byrmingham, &c." 

In the act there is a reservation of £40 per annum, during the 
lives only of the said Edward and his wife. 

It appears also, by an expression in the act, that Edward was 
brought to trial, and found guilty. Thus innocence is depressed 
for want of support ; property is wrested for want of the protection 
of the law ; and a vile minister, in a corrupt age, can carry an in- 
famous point through a court of justice, the two Houses of Parlia- 
ment, and complete his horrid design by the sanction of a tyrant. 

The place where tradition tells us this diabolical transaction 
happened, is the middle of Sandy-lane, in the Sutton-road ; the 
upper part of which begins at the north-east corner of Aston Park- 
wall ; at the bottom you bear to the left for Sawford-bridge, or to 
the right, for Nachell's-green ; about two miles from the Moat, the 
place of Edward's abode. 

Except that branch which proceeded from this original stem, 
about 600 years ago, of which the Earl of Lowth is head, I know of 
no male descendant from this honourable stock ; who, if we allow 
the founder to have come over with Cridda, the Saxon, in 582, 
must have commanded this little sovereignty 955 years. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 157 

I met with a person sometime ago of the name of Birmingham, 
and was pleased with the hope of finding him a member of that 
ancient and honourable house ; but he proved so amazingly igno- 
rant, he could not tell whether he was from the clouds, the sea, or 
the dunghill ; instead of tracing the existence of his ancestors, even 
so high as his father, he was scarcely conscious of his own. 

As this house did not much abound with daughters, I cannot at 
present recollect any families amongst us, except that of Bracebridge, 
who are descended from this illustrious origin, by a female line ; 
and Sir John Talbot Dillon, who is descended from the ancient 
Earls of Lowth, as he is from the De Veres, the more ancient Earls 
of Oxford. 

Here, then, I unwillingly extinguish that long range of lights, 
which for many ages illuminated the House of Birmingham. But 
I cannot extinguish the rascality of the line of Northumberland. 
This unworthy race proved a scourge to the world, at least during 
three generations. Each, in his turn, presided in the British cabi- 
net, and each seems to have possesed the villainy of his predecessor, 
united with his own. The first only served a throne ; but the 
second and the third intended to Jill one. A small degree of ambi- 
tion warms the mind in pursuit of fame through the paths of honour ; 
while too large a portion tends to unfavourable directions, kindles 
to a flame, consumes the finer sensations of rectitude, and leaves a 
stench behind. 

Edmund, the father of this John, was the voracious leech, with 
Empson, who sucked the vitals of the people to feed the avarice of 
Henry the Seventh, It is singular that Henry, the most sagacious 
prince since the Conquest, loaded him with honours for filling the 
royal coffers with wealth which the penurious monarch durst never 
enjoy; but his successor, Henry the Eighth, enjoyed the pleasure 
of consuming that wealth, and executed the father for collecting it ! 
How much are our best-laid schemes defective ! How little does 
expectation and event coincide ! It is no disgrace to a man that he 
died on the scaffold, the question is, what brought him there ? 
Some of the most inoffensive, and others, the most exalted charac- 
ters of the age in which they lived, have been cut off' by the axe, as 



158 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, for being the last male heir 
of the Anjouvin kings ; John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, Sir 
Thomas Moore, Sir Walter Raleigh, Algernon Sydney, William 
Lord Russell, &c. whose blood ornamented the scaffold on which 
they fell. 

The son of this man, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, favourite 
of Queen Elizabeth, is held up by our historians as a masterpiece of 
dissimulation, pride, and cruelty. He married three wives, all 
which he is charged with sending to the grave by untimely deaths, 
one of them to open a passage to the queen's bed, to which he as- 
pired. It is surprising that he should deceive the penetrating eye 
of Elizabeth ; but I am much inclined to think she linem him better 
than the world, and they knew him rather too well. He ruined 
many of the English gentry, particularly the ancient family of 
Arden, of Park Hall, in this neighbourhood. He afterwards ruined 
his own family by disinheriting a son more worthy than himself — 
If he did not fall by the executioner, it is no proof that he did not 
deserve it. — We now behold 

JOHN, DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, 1537, 
Lord of the manor of Birmingham ; a man who, of all others, the 
least deserved that honour, or rather deserved the axe for being so. 

Some have asserted " that property acquired by dishonesty can- 
not prosper ;" but I shall leave the philosopher and the enthusiast 
to settle that point, while I go on to observe that the lordship of 
Birmingham did not prosper with the duke. Though he had, in 
some degree, the powers of government in his hands, he had also 
the clamours of the people in his ears. What were his inward feel- 
ings is uncertain at this distance ; fear seems to have prevented him 
from acknowledging Birmingham for his property. Though he ex- 
ercised every act of ownership, yet he suffered the fee-simple to rest 
in the crown till nine years had elapsed, and those clamours sub- 
sided, before he ventured to accept the grant in 1546. 

As the execution of this grant was one of the last acts of Henry's 
life, we should be apt to suspect the duke carried it in his pocket 
ready for signing, but deferred the matter as long as he could with 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 159 

safety, that distance of time might annihilate reflection, and that 
the king's death, which happened a few weeks after, might draw 
the attention of the world too much, by the importance of the event, 
to regard the duke's conduct. 

The next six years, which carries us through the reign of Edward 
the Sixth, is replete with the intrigues of this illustrious knave. — 
He sought connexions with the principal families, he sought ho- 
nours for his own, he procured a match between his son, the Lord 
Guildford Dudley, and the Lady Jane Gray, daughter of the Duke 
of Suffolk, and a descendant from Henry the Seventh, with the in- 
tent of fixing the crown in his family, but failing in the attempt, he 
brought ruin upon the Suflfolk family, and himself to the block, in 
the first of Queen Mary, 1553. 

Though a man be guilty of many atrocious acts that deserve 
death, yet in the hour of distress humanity demands the tear of 
compassion; but the case was otherwise at the execution of John, 
Duke of Northumberland, for a woman, near the scaflfold, held forth 
a bloody handkerchief and exclaimed " behold the blood of the 
Duke of Somerset, shed by your means, and which cries for ven- 
geance against you." 

Thus Northumberland kept a short and rough possession of 
glory ; thus he fell unlamented, and thus the manor of Birming- 
ham reverted to the crown a second time, the duke himself having 
first taught it the way. 

Birmingham continued two years in the crown, till the third of 
Queen Mary, when she granted it to 

THOMAS MARROW, 1555, 
Whose family, for many descents, resided at Berkeswell, in this 
county. 

In the possession of the high bailiff is a bushel measure, cast in 
brass, of some value; round which in relief is, *' SAMUEL MAR- 
ROW, LORD OF THE MANOR OF BIRMINGHAM, 1664." 

The Lordship continued in this family about 191 years, till the 
male line failing, it became the joint property of four co-heirs :— 
Ann, married to Sir Arthur Kaye ; Mary, the wife of John Knight- 



160 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

ley, Esq. ; Ursulla, the wife of Sir Robert Wilniot; and Arabella, 
unmarried; who, in about 1730, disposed of the private estate in 
the manor, amounting to about £400 per annum, to Thomas Sher- 
lock, Bishop of London, as before observed, and the manor itself to 

THOMAS ARCHER, ESQ. 
(For £1,700 in 1746,) 
Of an ancient family, who have resided in Umberslade, in this 
county, more than 600 years ; from him it descended to 

ANDREW, LORD ARCHER, 
Who died about 1778, leaving the manor to his three daughters, 
one of whom marrying the Earl of Plymouth, seems to be drawing 
after her the Lordship of Birmingham. They possess no more in 
the parish than the royalty. As it does not appear that the subse- 
quent lords, after the extinction of the House of Birmingham were 
resident upon the manor, I omit particulars. Let me remark this 
place yet gives title to the present Lord Viscount Dudley and 
Ward, as descended, by the female line, from the great Norman 
barons, the Fitzausculfs, the Paganalls, the Somerys, the Suttons, 
and the Dudleys, successive lords paramount, whose original power 
is reduced to a name, 

MANOR HOUSE.— THE MOAT. 

The natural temper of the human mind, like that of the brute, is 
given to plunder. This temper is very apt to break forth into ac- 
tion. In all societies of men, therefore, restraints have been dis- 
covered, under the name of laws, attended with punishment, to 
deter people from infringing each others property. Every thing 
that a man can possess, falls under the denomination of poperty ; 
whether it be life, liberty, wealth, or character. 

The less perfect these laws are, the less a people are removed from 
the rude state of nature, and the more necessity there is for a man 
to be constantly in a state of defence, that he may be able to repel 
any force that shall rise up against him. 

It is easy to discover, by the laws of a country, how far the peo- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 161 

pie are advanced in civilization. If the laws are defective, or the 
magistrate too weak to execute them, it is dangerous for a man to 
possess property. 

But when a nation is pretty far advanced in social existence ; when 
the laws agree with reason, and are executed with firmness, a man 
need not trouble himself concerning the protection of his property — 
his country will protect it for him. 

The laws of England have, for many ages, been gradually 
refining ; and are capable of that protection which violence never 
was. But if we penetrate back into the recesses of time, we shall 
find the laws inadequate, the manrt«ers savage, force occupy the place 
of justice, and property unprotected. In those barbarous ages, men 
sought security by intrenching themselves from a world they could 
not trust. This was done by opening a large trench round their 
habitation, which they filled with water, and which was only ap- 
proachable by a draw-bridge. This, in some degree, supplied the 
defect of the law, and the want of power in the magistrate. It also 
furnished that table in lent, which it guarded all the year. 

The Britons had a very slender knowledge of fortification. The 
camps they left us, are chiefly upon eminences, girt by a shallow 
ditch, bordered with stone, earth, or timber, but never with water. 
The moat was introduced by the Romans , their camps are often in 
marshes, some wholly, and some in part surrounded by water. 

These liquid barriers were begun in England early in the chris- 
tian aera, they were in the zenith of their glory at the barons' wars, 
in the reign of King John, and continued to be the mode of fortifi- 
cation till the introduction of guns, in the reign of Edward the 
Fourth, which shook their foundation; and the civil wars of Charles 
tlie First totally annihilated their use, after an existance of twelve 
hundred years. 

Perhaps few parishes that have been the ancient habitation of a 
gentleman, are void of some traces of these fluid bulwarks. That 
of Birmingham has three; one of these, of a square form, at War- 
stone, erected by a younger brother of the house of Birmingham, 
has already been mentioned. 

Another is the Parsonage-house belonging to St. Martin's, for- 



162 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

merly situated in the road to Bromsgrove, now Smallbrook-street, 
of a circular figure, and supplied by a neighbouring spring. If we 
allow this watery circle to be a proof of the great antiquity of the 
house, it is a much greater with regard to the antiquity of the 
church. 

The third is what we simply denominate the Moat, and was the 
residence of the ancient lords of Birmingham, situated about sixty 
yards of the church, and twenty west of Digbeth. This is also cir- 
cular, and supplied by a small stream that crosses the road to Broms- 
grove, near the first mile stone ; it originally ran into the river Rea, 
near Vaughton's-hole, dividing the parishes of Birmingham and 
Edgbaston all the way ; but, at the formation of the Moat, was 
diverted from its course, into which it never returned. 

No certain evidence remains to inform us when this liquid work 
was accomplished ; perhaps in the Saxon heptarchy, when there 
were few or no buildings south of the church. Digbeth seems to 
have been one of the first streets added to this important school of 
arts ; the upper part of that street must of course have been formed 
first ; but that the Moat was completed prior to the erection of any 
buildings between that and Digbeth is evident, because those 
buildings stand upon the very soil thrown out in forming the 
Moat. 

The first certain account that we meet with of this guardian circle, 
is in the reign of Henry the Second, 1 154, when Peter de Birming- 
ham, then lord of the fee, had a castle here, and lived in splendour. 
All the succeeding lords resided upon the same island, till their 
cruel expulsion by John Duke of Northumberland in 1537. 

The old castle followed its lords, and is buried in the ruins of 
time. Upon the spot, about fifty yearo ago, rose a house in the mo- 
dern style, occupied by a manufacturer, (Thomas Francis) ; in one 
of the out-buildings is shewn, the apartment where the ancient lords 
kept their court leet ; another out-building which stands to the 
east, I have already observed was the work of Edmund Lord Ferrers. 
The trench being filled with water, has nearly the same appearance 
now as perhaps a thousand years ago, but not altogether the same use. 
It then served to protect its master, but now to turn a thread-mill. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGPIAM. 163 

PUDDING BROOK. 
Near the place where the small rivulet discharges itself into the 
Moat, another of the same size is carried over it, and proceeds from 
the town as this advances towards it, producing a curiosity seldom 
met with ; one river running south, and the other north, for half a 
mile, yet only a path-road of three-feet asunder ; which surprised 
Brindley the famous engineer. 

THE PRIORY. 

The site of this ancient edifice is now the Square ; some small 
remains of the old foundations are yet visible in the cellars, chiefly 
on the south-east. The out-buildings and pleasuregrounds perhaps oc- 
cupied the whole north-east side of Bull-street, then uninhabited, and 
only the highway to Wolverhampton; bounded on the north-west by 
Steelhouse-lane, on the North-east by Newton and John's-street, and 
on the South-east by Dale-end, which also was no other than the 
highway to Lichfield. The whole about fourteen acres. 

The building upon this delightful eminence, which at that time 
commanded the small but beautiful prospect of Bristland-fields, 
Rowley-hills, Oldbury, Smethwick, Handsworth, Sutton Coldfield, 
Erdington, Saltley, the Garrison, and Camp-hill, and which then 
stood at a distance from the town, though now near its centre, was 
founded by the House of Birmingham, in the early reigns of the 
Norman Kings, and called the Hospital of St. Thomas — the priest 
being bound to pray for the souls of the founders every day, to the 
end of the world. 

In 1285, Thomas de Maidenhache, Lord of the manor of Aston, 
gave ten acres of land in his manor. William de Birmingham ten, 
which I take to be the land where the Priory stood ; and Ranulph 
de Rakeby three acres in Saltley. About the same time, sundry 
others gave houses and land in smaller quantities. William de Bir- 
mingham gave afterwards twenty-two acres more. The same active 
spirit seems to have operated in our ancestors 500 years ago, that 
does in their descendants at this day. If a new scheme strikes the 
fancy it is pursued with vigour. 



164 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The religious fervour of that day ran high ; it was unfashionable 
to leave the world, and not remember the Priory. Donations 
crowded in so fast that the Prohibiting Act was forgot, so that in 
1311, the brotherhood were prosecuted by the Crown for appropri- 
atino- lands contrary to the Act of Mortmain ; but, upon their hum- 
ble petition to the throne, Edward the Second put a stop to the judi- 
cial proceedings. 

In 1351, Fouk de Birmingham, and Richard Spencer, jointly 
gave to the Priory one hundred acres of land, part lying in Aston 
and part in Birmingham, to maintain another priest, who should 
celebrate divine service daily at the altar of the Virgin Mary, in the 
church of the hospital, for the souls of William la Mercer and his 
wife. The church is supposed to have stood upon the spot, now 
No. 27, in Bull-street. 

In the garden belonging to the Red Bull, No. 83, nearly opposite, 
have been discovered human bones, which has caused some to sup- 
pose it the place of interment for the religious belonging to the 
Priory, which I rather doubt. The cemetry must have extended 
north to the Miuories, leading to the Square, for in the premises of 
Charles Greatrex, many bushels of human bones were dug up in 
1786, in great perfection, the polish of the teeth remaining. 

At the Dissolution of the Abbies, in 1536, the King's visitors 
valued the annual income at the trifling sum of £8 8s. 9d. 

The patronage continued chiefly in the head of the Birmingham 
family. Dugdale gives us a list of some of the priors who held do- 
minion in this little commonwealth, from 1326 till the total annihi- 
lation, being 210 years. 

Robert Marmion, Henry Bradley, Henry Drayton, 

Robert Cappe, Thomas Salpin, Sir Edward Tofte, 

Thomas Edmunds, Robert Browne, and 

John Frothward, John Port, Henry Hody. 

John Cheyne, William Priestwood, 

Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, a man of capacity, and yet more 
spirit, was the instrument with which Henry the Eighth destroyed 
the abbies ; but Henry, like a true politician of the House of Tudor, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 165 

wisely threw the blame upon the instrument, held it forth to the 
public in an odious light, and then sacrificed it to appease an angry 
people. 

This destructive measure against the religious houses, originated 
from royal lechery, and was replete with consequences. 

It opened the fountains of learning, at that day confined to the 
monastry, and the streams diffused themselves through various 
ranks of men. The revival of letters and of science made a rapid 
progress. 

It removed great numbers of men who lay as a dead weight upon 
the community, and they became useful members of society. When 
younger sons could no longer find an asylum within the walls of a 
convent, they sought a livelihood in trade. Commerce, therefore, 
was taught to crowd her sails, cross the western ocean, fill the coun- 
try with riches, and change an idle spirit into that of industry. 

By the destruction of religious houses, architecture sustained a 
temporary wound. They were by far the most magnificent and 
expensive buildings in the kingdoms, far surpassing those of the 
nobility ; some of these structures are yet habitable, though the 
major part are gone to decay. But modern architecture hath since 
out-done the former splendour of the abbey, in use and elegance, 
and sometimes with the profits arising from the abbey lands. 

Henry, by his seizure, had more property to give away than any 
King of England since William the the Conqueror, and he gener- 
ously gave away that which was never his own. It is curious to 
survey the foundation of some of the principal religions that have 
taken the lead among men. 

Moses founded a religion upon morals and ceremonies, one half 
of which continues with his people to this day. 

Christ founded one upon love and purity ; words of the simplest 
import, yet we sometimes mistake their meaning. 

Henry the Eighth built his reformation from the Catholic church 
upon revenge and plunder ; he deprived the head of the Romish 
see of an unjust power, for pronouncing a just decision, and robbed 
the memhers for being annexed to that head. Henry wished the 
world to believe what he believed himself, that he acted from a reli- 



166 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

gious principle ; but his motive seems to have been salvage love. 
Had equity directed when Henry divided tliis vast property, he 
would have restored it to the descendants of thosepersons, whose mis- 
taken zeal had injured their families; but his disposal of it was 
ludicrous — sometimes he made a free gift, at others he exchanged 
a better estate for a worse, and then gave that worse to another. 

I have met with a little anecdote which says, " That Henry being 
upon a tour in Devonshire, two men waited on him to beg certain 
lands in that county ; while they attended in the anti-room for 
the Royal presence, a stranger approached, and asked them a trifling 
question ; they answered they wished to be alone — at that moment 
the King entered. They fell at his feet ; the stranger seeing them 
kneel, knelt with them. They asked the favour intended; the King 
readily granted it ; they bowed ; the stranger bowed also. By this 
time, the stranger perceiving there was a valuable prize in the ques- 
tion, claimed his thirds ; they denied his having any thing to do 
with the matter. He answered, he had done as much as they, for 
they only asked and bowed, and he did the same. The dispute grew 
warm, and both parties agreed to appeal to the King, who an- 
swered, he took them for joint beggars, therefore had made them a 
joint present. They were then obliged to divide the land with the 
stranger, whose share amounted to £240 per annum." 

The land formerly used for the Priory of Birmingham, is now the 
property of many persons. Upon that spot whereon stood one solitary 
house, now stand about four hundred. Upon that ground where 
about thirty persons lived about three thousand now reside. 

In 1775, I took down an old house of wood and plaster, which 
had stood 208 years, having been erected in 1567, thirty-one years 
after the Dissolution of the Abbies. The foundation of this old 
house seemed to have been built chiefly with stones from the Priory; 
perhaps more than twenty waggon loads : these appeared in a 
variety of forms and sizes, highly finished in the Gothic taste, 
parts of porticos, arches, windows, ceiling, &,c. some fluted, some 
cyphered, and otherwise ornamented, yet complete as in the first 
day they were left by the chizel. The greatest part of them were 
destroyed by the workmen ; some others I used again in the fire- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 1G7 

})laceofau under kitchen. Perhaps they are the only perfect frag- 
ments that remain of that venerable edifice, which once stood the 
monument of ancient piety, and the ornament of the town. 

CLODSHALE'S CHANTRY. 

It is an ancient remark, " The world is a farce." Every genera^ 
tion, and perhaps every individual, acts a part in disguise; but when 
the curtain falls, the hand of the historian pulls off the mask, and 
displays the character in its native light. Every generation differs 
from the other, yet all are right. Time, fashion, and sentiment, 
change together. We laugh at the oddity of our forefathers — our 
successors will laugh at us. 

The prosperous anvil of Walter de Clodshale, a native of this 
place, had enabled him to acquire several estates in Birmingham, to 
purchase the lordship of Saltley, commence gentleman, and reside 
in the manor-house, now gone to decay, though its traces remain, 
and are termed by common people, The Giant's Castle. This 
man, having well provided for the ji^r^^ew^, thought it prudent, at 
the close of life, to provide for the future ; he therefore procured a 
licence, in 1331, from William de Birmingham, lord of the see, and 
another from the crown, to found a Chantry at the altar in St. Mar- 
tin's church, for one priest, to pray for his soul and that of his wife. 

He gave four houses, twenty acres of land, and eighteen pence 
rent, issuing out of his estates in Birmingham. The same righteous 
motive induced his son Richard, in 1348, to grant five houses, ten 
acres of land, and ten shillings rent, from the Birmingham estates, 
to maintain a second priest. 

The chantorial music continued two hundred and four years, till 
1535, when Henry the Eighth closed the book, turned out the priests, 
who were Sir Thomas Allen and Sir John Green, and seized the 
property, valued at £5. Is. per annum. 

Had Walter and Richard taken equal care of their souls and 
their estates, the first might have been as safe as in the hands of the 
priest, and the last, at this day, have been the properity of that an- 
cient, and once noble race of Arden, long since in distress : who, 



168 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

in 1426, married the heiress of their house. Thus a family bene- 
fitted by the hammer, was injured by the church. 

The astonishing advance of landed property in Birmingham : nine 
houses and thirty acres of land, two hundred and fifty years ago, 
were valued at the trifling rent of £4. 9s. 6d. one of the acres, or one 
of the houses, would at this day bring more. We may reasonably 
suppose they were under-rated ; yet, even then, the difference is 
amazing. An acre, within a mile of Birmingham, now sells for 
about one hundred pounds, and lets from three pounds to five, some 
as high as seven. 

JOHN A DEAN'S HOLE. 

At the bottom of Digbeth, about thirty yards north of the bridge, 
on the left, is a water course that takes in a small drain from Dig- 
beth, but more from the adjacent meadows, and which divides the 
parishes of Aston and Birmingham, called John a Dean's Hole, 
from a person of that name who is said to have lost his life there, 
and which, I think, is the only name of antiquity among us. 

The particle dc, between the christian and surname, is of French 
extraction, and came over with William the First. It continued 
tolerably pure for about three centuries, when it, in some degree, 
assumed an English garb in the particle of; the a, therefore, is only 
a corruption of the latter. Hence the time of this unhappy man's 
misfortune may be fixed about the reign of Edward the Third. 

LENCHS TRUST. 

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, William Lench, a native of 
this place, bequeathed his estate for the purpose of erecting alms- 
houses, which are those at the bottom of Steelhouse-lane, for the 
benefit of poor widows, but chiefly for repairing the streets of Bir- 
mingham. Afterwards others granted smaller donations for the 
same use, but all were included under the name of Lench, and I 
believe did not unitedly amount, at that time, to fifteen pounds per 
annum. 

Over this scattered inheritance was erected a trust, consisting of 
gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 169 

All human affairs tend to confusion. The hand of care is ever 
necessary to keep order. The gentlemen, therefore, at the head of 
this charity, having too many modes of pleasures of their own to 
pay attention to this little jurisdiction, disorder crept in apace ; 
some of the lands were lost for want of inspection ; the rents ran in 
arrear and were never recovered ; the streets were neglected and the 
people complained. 

Misconduct, particularly of a public nature, silently grows for 
years, and sometimes for ages, till it becomes too bulky for support, 
falls in pieces by its own weight, and out of its very destruction 
rises a remedy. An order, therefore, from the Court of Chancery 
was obtained for vesting the property in other hands, consisting of 
twenty persons, all of Birmingham, who have directed this valuable 
estate, now £300 per annum, to useful purposes. The man who 
can guide his own private concerns with success stands the fairest 
chance of guiding those of the public. 

If the former trust went widely astray, perhaps their successors 
have not exactly kept the line, by advancing the leases to a rack 
rent. It is worth considering, whether the tenant of an expiring 
lease has not in equity, a kind of reversionary right, which ought 
to favour him with the refusal of another term, at one third under 
the value, in houses, and one fourth in land; this would give sta- 
bility to the title, secure the rents, and cause the lessee more 
cheerfully to improve the premises, which in time would enhance 
their value, both with regard to property and esteem. But where 
business is well conducted, complaint should cease, for perfection 
is not to be expected on this side the grave. 

There is an excellent clause in the devisor's will, ordering his 
bailiff to pay half a crown to any two persons, who, having quar- 
reled and entered into law, shall stop judicial proceedings, and make 
peace by agreement. He might have added, "And half a crown 
to the lawyer that will suffer them." If money be reduced to one 
fourth its value, since the days of Lench, it follows, that four times 
the sum ought to be paid in ours ; and perhaps ten shillings cannot 
be better laid out, than in the purchase of that peace which tends 



170 IIISTOIIY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

to harmonize the community, and weed a brotherhood not the most 
amicable among us. 

FENTHAM'S TRUST. 

In 1712, George Fentham, of Birmingham, devised his estates 
by will, consisting of about one hundred acres, in Erdington and 
Handsworth, of the value then of £20 per annum, vesting the same in a 
trust, of which no person could be chosen who resided more than 
one hundred yards from the Old Cross. We should be inclined to 
think the devisor entertained a singular predilection for the Old 
Cross, then in the pride of youth. But if we unfold this whimsical 
clause, we shall find it contains a shrewd intention. The choice 
was limited within one hundred yards, because the town itself, in 
his day, did not, in some directions, extend farther. Fentham had 
spent a life in Birmingham, knew well her inhabitants, and like 
some others, had found honour as well as riches among them. He 
knew also he could with safety deposit his property in their hands, 
and was determined it should never go out. The scheme will an- 
swer his purpose. 

The income from this estate, about £100 per annum, is for teach- 
ing children to read, and for clothing ten poor widows of Birming- 
ham. Those children belonging to the charity school, in green, 
are upon this foundation. 

CROWLEY'S TRUST. 

Ann Crowley bequeathed by her last will, in 1733, six houses in 
Steelhouse-lane, amounting to eighteen pounds per annum, for the 
purpose of supporting a school, consisting of ten children. From 
an attachment to her own sex she constituted over this infant co- 
lony of letters a female teacher. Perhaps we should have seen a 
female trust had they been equally capable of defending the pro- 
perty. The income of the estate increasing, the children were aug- 
mented to twelve. 

By a subsequent clause in the devisor's will, twenty shillings 
a-year, for ever, issues out of two houses in the Lower Priory, to be 
disposed of at the discretion of the trust. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 171 

SCOTT'S TRUST. 

Joseph Scott, Esq. assigned, July 7, 1779, certain messuages and 
lands in and near Walmer-lane, in Birmingham, of the present rent 
of £40. 18s. part of the said premises to be appropriated for the in- 
terment of protestant dissenters ; part of the profits to be applied to 
the use of a rehgiqus society in Carr's-lane, at the discretion of the 
trust, and the remainder for the institution of a school to teach the 
mother tongue. 

That part of the demise, designed for the reception of the dead, is 
about three acres, upon which stands one messuage, now the Golden 
Fleece, joining Summer-lane on the west and Walmer-lane on the 
east ; the other, which has Aston-street on the south, and Walmer- 
lane on the west, contains about four acres, upon which stood, in 
1780, ninety-one houses. A building lease, in 1778, was granted of 
these last premises for 120 years, at £30 per annum, at the expira- 
tion of which the rents will probably amount to twenty times the 
present income. 

FREE SCHOOL. 

It is entertaining to contemplate the generations of fashion, which 
not only influences our dress and manner of living, but most of the 
common actions of life, and even the modes of thinking. Some of 
these fashions not meeting with the taste of the day, are of short du- 
ration, and retreat out of life as soon as they are well brought in; 
others take a longer space ; but whatever fashions predominate, 
though ever so absurd, they carry an imaginary beauty which 
pleases the fancy, till they become ridiculous with age, are suc- 
ceeded by others, when their very memory becomes disgusting. 

Custom gives a sanction to fashion, and reconciles us even to its 
inconveniency. The fashion of this year is laughed at the next. — 
There are fashions of every date, from five hundred years even to 
one day ; of the first was that of erecting religious houses, of the 
last was that of destroying them. 

Our ancestors, the Saxons, after their conversion to Christianity, 
displayed their zeal in building churches. Though the kingdom in 
a few centuries was amply supplied, yet that zeal was no way abated; 
it therefore exerted itself in the abbey. 

X 



172 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

In 1383, the sixth of Richard the Second, before the religious 
fervour subsided that had erected Deritend Chapel, Thomas de 
Sheldon, John Coleshill, John Goldsmith, and William att Slowe, 
all of Birmingham, obtained a patent from the Crown to erect a 
building upon the spot where the Free School now stands in New- 
street, to be called The Gild of the Holy Cross, and to endow it 
with lands in Birmingham and Edgbaston, of the annual value of 
twenty marks, for the maintenance of two priests. 

Many of the inhabitants wished to join the four happy men, who 
had obtained the patent for so pious a work, so that, in 1393, a se- 
cond patent was procured by the bailiff and inhabitants of Birming- 
ham for confirming the Gild, and making the addition of a brother- 
hood in honour of the Holy Cross, consisting of both sexes, with 
power to constitute a master and wardens, and also to erect a chantry 
of priests to celebrate divine service in the chapel of the Gild, for 
the souls of the founders, and all the fraternity ; for whose support 
there were given, by divers persons, eighteen messuages, three tofts, 
(pieces of ground) six acres of land, and forty shillings rent, lying 
in Birmingham and Edgbaston aforesaid. 

But in the 27th of Henry the Eighth, 1536, when it was the 
fashion of that day to multiply destruction against the religious and 
their habitations, the annual income of the Gild was valued, by the 
king's random visitors, at the sum of £31. 2s. lOd., out of which 
three priests, who sung mass, had £5. 6s. 8d. each, and an organist, 
£3. 13s. 4d. 

These lands continued in the Crown till 1552, the fifth of Edward 
the Sixth, when, at the humble suit of the inhabitants, they were 
assigned to 

William Symmons, Gent. 
Richard Smallbrook, Bailiff of the town. 
John Shilton, Thomas Marshall, Robert Rastall, 

William Colmore, John Veysy, Thomas Snowden, 

Henry Foxall, John King, John Eyliat, 

William Bogee, John Wylles, WilHam Colmore, jun. 

Thomas Cooper, William Paynton, and 

Richard Swif'te, William Aschrig, William Mychell, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 173 

all inhabitants of Birmingham, and their successors, to be chosen 
upon death or removal, by the appellation of the Bailiff and Gover- 
nors of the Free Grammar School of King Edward the Sixth, for 
the instruction of children in grammar ; to be held of tho Crown 
in common soccage, paying for ever twenty shillings per annum. 
Over this seminary of learning were to preside a master and a usher, 
whose united income seems to have been only twenty pounds per 
annum. Both are of the clergy. The hall of the Gild was used for 
a school room. In the glass of the windows was painted the figure 
of Edmund Lord Ferrers, who, marrying about 360 years ago, the 
heiress of the House of Birmingham, resided upon the manor, and 
seems to have been a benefactor to the Gild, with his arms, empal- 
ing Belknap; and also those of Stafford of Grafton, of Birmingham, 
and Bryon. 

The Gild stood at that time at a distance from the town, sur- 
rounded with inclosures ; the highway to Hales Owen, now New- 
street, running by the north. No house could be nearer than those 
in the High-street. 

The first erection, wood and plaster, which had stood about 320 
years, was taken down in 1 707, to make way for the present flat 
building.* In 1756, a set of urns were placed upon the parapet, 
which give relief to that stiff air so hurtful to the view ; at the same 
time the front was intended to have been decorated, by erecting 
half a dozen dreadful pillars, like so many over-grown giants mar- 
shalled in battalia, to guard the entrance, which the boys wish to 
shun, and being sufficiently tarnished with Birmingham smoke, 
might become dangerous to pregnancy. These are removed. 
Had the wings of this building fallen two or three yards back, and 
the line of the street been preserved by a light palisade, it would 
have risen in the scale of beauty, and removed the gloomy aspect 
of the area. 

The tower is in a good taste, except being rather too narrow in 



* This building was razed ia 1833, and on its site another is pro- 
gressing towards completion ; of which a succinct account will be 
given. 



174 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

the base, and is ornamented with a sleepy figure of the doner, 
Edward the Sixth, dressed in a royal mantle, with the ensigns of the 
Garter, holding a bible and sceptre. 

The lands that support this foundation, and which were in the 
reign of Henry the Eighth, valued at thirty-one pounds per annum, 
are now, by the advance of landed property, the reduction of money, 
and the increase of commerce, about £1,200. 

Over this nursery of science presides a chief master, with an an- 
nual salaryt of one hundred and twenty pounds ; a second master 
sixty ; two ushers, a master in the art of writing, and another in that 
of drawing, at forty pounds each ; a librarian, ten ; seven exhibi- 
tioners at the University of Oxford, twenty-five pounds each. Also 
eight inferior schools, in various parts of the town, are constituted 
and fed by this grand reservoir at fifteen pounds each, which begin 
the first rudiments of learning. 

THE BLUE-COAT SCHOOL. 

There seems to be three classes of people who demand the care of 
society ; infancy, old age, and casual infirmity. When a man can- 
not assist himself it is necessary he should be assisted. The first 
of these only is before us. The direction of youth seems one of the 
greatest concerns in moral life, and one that is the least understood; 
to form the generation to come is of the first importance. If an in- 
genious master hath flogged the ABC into an innocent child, he 
thinks himself worthy of praise. A lad is too much terrified to 
march that path which is marked out by the rod. If the way to 
learning abounds with punishment he will quickly detest it ; if we 
make his duty a task we lay a stumbling-block before him that he 
cannot surmount. We rarely know a tutor succeed in training up 
youth who is a friend to harsh treatment. 

Whence it is that we so seldom find affection subsisting between 
master and scholar? Erom the moment they unite, to the 



* The present income exceeds £3,000. 

f All the salaries are supposed to have quadrupled. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 175 

end of their lives disgust, like a cloud, rises in the mind, 
which reason herself can never dispel. The boy may pass 
the precincts of childhood, and tread the stage of life, upon an 
equality with every man in it, except his old schoolmaster ; 
the dread of him seldom wears off; the name of Busby 
sounded with horror for half a century after he had laid 
down the rod. I have often been delighted when I have seen a 
school of boys break up ; the joy that diffuses itself over every face 
and action, shews infant nature in her gayest form — the only care 
remaining is, to forget on one side of the walls what was taught on 
the other. One would think, if coming out gives so much satis- 
faction, there must be something very detestable within. 

If the master thinks he has performed his task when he has taught 
the boys a few words, he as much mistakes his duty as he does the 
road to learning. This is only the first stage of his journey. He 
has the man to form for society with ten thousand sentiments. 

It is curious to enter one of these prisons of science, and observe 
the children not under the least government ; the master without 
authority, the children without order; the master scolding, the chil- 
dren riotous. We never harden the wax to receive the impression. 
They act in a natural sphere, but he in opposition ; he seems the 
only person in the school who merits correction ; he, unfit to teach 
is making them unfit to be taught. 

A man does not consider whether his talents are adapted for teach- 
ing, so much, as whether he can profit by teaching. Thus, when a 
man hath taught for twenty years, he may be only fit to o-o to 
school. 

To that vast group of instructors, therefore, whether in, or out of 
petticoats, who teach without having been taught ; who mistake the 
tail for the seat of learning, instead of the head ; who can neither 
direct the passions of others nor their own — it may be said, "Quit 
the trade, if bread can be procured out of it. It is useless to pursue 
a work of error ; the ingenious architect must take up your rotten 
foundation before he can lay one that is solid." 

But to the discerning few, who can penetrate the secret windings 
of the heart ; who know that nature may be directed, but can never 



176 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

be inverted ; that instruction should ever coincide with the temper 
of the instructed, or we sail against the wind ; that it is necessary the 
pupil should relish both the teacher and the lesson ; which, if ac- 
cepted like a bitter draught, may easily be sweetened to his taste. 
To these valuable few, who, like the prudent florist, possessed of a 
choice root, which he cultivates with care, adding improvement to 
every generation ; it may be said, " Banish tyranny out of the little 
dominions over which you are absolute sovereigns ; introduce in its 
stead two of the highest ornaments of humanity, love and reason." 
Through the medium of the first, the master and the lesson may be 
viewed without -horror ; when the teacher and the learner are upon 
friendly terms, the scholar v/ill rather invite than repel the assistance 
of the master. By the second, reason., the teacher will support his 
full authority. Every period of life in which a man is capable of 
attending to instruction, he is capable of attending to instruction, he 
is capable of attending to reason. This will answer every end of 
punishment, and something more. Thus, an irksome task will be 
changed into a friendly intercourse. 

This school, by a date in the front, was erected in 1 724, in St. 
Philip's church-yard ; is a plain, airy, and useful building, orna- 
mented over the door with the figures of a boy and a girl in the uni- 
form of the school, and executed with a degree of elegance, that a 
Roman statuary would not have blushed to own. 

This artificial family contained, in 1790, about ninety scholars of 
both sexes, over which preside a governor and governess, both sin- 
gle. Behind the apartments is a large area, appropriated for the 
amusement of the infant race, necessary as their food. Great deco- 
rum is preserved in this little society, which is supported by annual 
contributions, &c.* 

At twelve or fourteen, the children are removed into the commer- 



* The original building was constructed in 1724, and rebuilt in 
1794, at which time the present stone front was added. The num- 
ber of children at present in the school is 270, and the total expendi- 
ture about £3,500. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 177 

cial world, and often acquire an affluence that enables them to sup- 
port that foundation which formerly supported them. 

It is worthy of remark, that those institutions which are immedi- 
ately upheld by the temporary hand of the giver, flourish in con- 
tinual spring, and become real benefits to society ; while those which 
enjoy a perpetual income, are often tinctured with supineness, and 
dwindle into obscurity. The first usually answers the purpose of 
the living, the last seldom that of the dead. 

DISSENTING CHARITY SCHOOL. 
In 1760 the Dissenters established a school upon nearly the same 
plan as the former, consisting of about eighteen boys and eight girls ; 
with this improvement, that the boys are inured to moderate labour, 
and the girls to house-work.* The annual subscriptions seem to be 
willingly paid, thankfully received, and judiciously expended. 

WORKHOUSE. 

During the long reign of the Plantagenets in England, there were 
not many laws in the code then existing for the regulation of the 
poor ; distress was obliged to wander for a temporary and uncertain 
relief: — idleness usually mixed with it. 

The nobility then kept plain and hospitable houses, where want 
frequently procured a supply ; but as these were thinly scattered, 
they were inadequate to the purpose. 

As the abbey was much more frequent, and as a great part of the 
riches of the kingdom passed through the hands of the monk, and 
charity being consonant to the profession of that order, the weight 
of the poor chiefly lay upon the religious houses ; these were the 
general relievers of the indigent, the idle, and the impostor. 

When the religious houses, and all their property, in 1536, fell a 
sacrifice to the vindictive wrath of Henry the Eighth, the poor lost 



* The funds of this charity increasing enabled the trustees, about 
forty years ago, to purchase extensive premises in Park-street, when 
the number of scholars was greatly increased, but consisted of girls 
only. 



178 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

their dependence, and as want knows no law, robbery became fre- 
quent; justice called loudly for punishment, and the hungry for 
bread ; which gave rise, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, to that 
most excellent institution, of erecting every parish into a distinct 
fraternity, and obliging them to support their own members ; there- 
fore it is difficult to assign a reason, why the blind should go abroad 
to see fresh countries, or the man witJiout feet to travel. 

Though the poor were nursed by parochial law, yet workhouses 
did not become general till 1730. That of Birmingham was erected 
in 1733, at the expence of £1,173. 3s. 5d. and which the stranger 
would rather suppose was the residence of a gentleman, than that of 
six hundred paupers. The left wing called the infirmary, was added 
in 1766, at the charge of £400 and the right, a place for labour, in 
1779, at the expence of £700 more. 

Let us a second time consider the people who occupy this grand 
toy shop of Europe* as one great family, where, though the pro- 
perty of individuals is ascertained and secured, yet a close and 
beneficial compact subsists. We behold the members of this vast 
family marked with every style of character. Forlorn infancy, 
accidental calamity, casual sickness, old age, and even inadvertent 
distress, all find support from that charitable fund erected by in- 
dustry. No part of the family is neglected ; he that cannot find 
bread for himself, finds a ready supply ; he that can, ought. By 
cultivating the young suckers of infancy, we prudently establish 
the ensuing generation, which will, in the commercial walk, abun- 
dantly repay the expence. Temporary affliction of every kind also 
merits pity ; even those distresses which arise from folly, ought 
not to be neglected. The parish hath done well to many a man, 
who would not do well to himself. If imprudence cannot be 
banished out of the world, compassion ought not ; he that cannot 
direct himself, must be under the direction of another. If the 
parish supported none but the prudent, she would have but few to 
support. The last stage of human life demands, as well as the first, 



* Burke. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 179 

the help of the family. The care of infancy arises from an expec- 
tation of a return, that of old age from benefits already received. 
Though a man may have passed through life without growing rich, 
he may, by his labour, have contributed to make others so ; though 
he could not pursue the road to affluence himself, he may have 
been the means of directing others to find it. 

The number of persons depending upon this weekly charity in 
Birmingham were, in 1781, about 5,240.* 

Whether the mode of distributing the bounty of the community, 
is agreeable to the intentions of legislature, or the ideas of humanity, 
is a doubt. For in some parishes the unfortunate paupers have the 
additional misery of being sold to a mercenary wretch to starve 
upon twelve-pence a-head. It is matter of surprise that the magis- 
trate should wink at this cruelty ; but it is a matter of pleasure, 
that no accusation comes within the verge of my historical remarks, 
for the wretched of Birmingham are not made more so by ill treat- 
ment, but meet with a kindness acceptable to distress. One would 
think that situation could not be despicable, which is often wished 
for, and often sought, that of becoming one of the poor of Birm- 
ingham. 

We cannot be converS&nt in parochial business, without observ- 
ing a littleness predominant in most parishes, by using every finesse 
to relieve themselves of paupers, and throwing them upon others. 
Thus the oppressed, like the child between two fathers, is supported 
by neither. 

There is also an enormity, which, though agreeable to law, can 
never be justified by the rules of equity — that a man should spend 
the principal part of his life in a parish, add wealth to it by his 
labour, form connexions in it, bring up a family which all belong 
to it, but having never gained a settlement himself, shall in old age 
be removed by an order, to perish among strangers. In 1768, a 
small property fell into my hands, situated in a neighbouring village; 
I found the tenant had entered upon the premises at the age of 



Recently upwards of 20,000. 

V 



180 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

twenty-two; that he had resided upon them, with poverty and a fair 
character, during the long space of forty-six years. I told him he 
was welcome to spend the residue of his life upon the spot gratis. 
He continued there ten years after, when finding an inability to 
procure support from labour, and meeting with no assistance from 
the parish in which he had been resident for an age, he resigned the 
place with tears, in 1778, after an occupation of fifty-six years, and 
was obliged to recoil upon his own parish, about twelve miles dis- 
tant, to be farmed with the rest of the poor ; and where, he after- 
wards assured me, " They were murdering him by inches," — But 
no complaint of this ungrateful kind lies against that people whose 
character I draw. Perhaps it may be a wise measure, in a place 
like Birmingham, where the manufactures flourish in continual 
sunshine, not to be over strict with regard to removals. Though it 
may be burdensome to support the poor of another parish, yet per- 
haps it is the least of two evils. To remove old age which has spent 
a life amongst us, is ungenerous ; to remove temporary sickness is 
injurious to trade ; and to remove infancy is impolitic, being upon 
the verge of accommodating the town with a life of labour. It may 
be more prudent to remove a rascal than a pauper. Forty pounds 
has been spent in removing a family, which would not otherwise 
have cost forty shillings, and whose future industry might have 
added many times that sum to the common capital. The highest 
pitch of charity, is that of directing inability to support itself. 
Idleness suits no part of a people, neither does it find a place here; 
every individual ought to contribute to the general benefit, by his 
head or his hands. If he is arrived at the western verge of life, 
when the powers of usefulness decline, let him repose upon his for- 
tune ; if no such thing exists, let him rest upon his friends, and if 
this prop fail, let the public nurse him, with a tenderness becoming 
humanity. 

We may observe, that the manufactures, the laborious part of 
mankind, the poors' rates, and the number of paupers, will everlast- 
ingly go hand in hand ; they will increase and decrease together ; 
we cannot annihilate one, but the others will follow, and odd as the 
expression may sound, we become rich by payment and poverty. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



181 



If we discharge the poor, who shall act the laborious partV Stop 
the going out of one shilling, and it will prevent the coming in of 
two. 

At the introduction of the poor's laws, under Elizabeth, two- 
pence halfpenny in the pound rent was collected every fortnight, for 
future support. Time has since made an alteration in the system, 
which is now six-pence in the pound, and collected as often as found 
necessary. As the overseers are generally people of property, pay- 
ment in advance is not scrupulously observed. It was customary 
at the beginning of this admirable system of jurisprudence, to con- 
stitute two overseers in each parish ; but the magnitude of Birm- 
ingham pleaded for four, which continued till the year 1720, when 
a fifth was established. In 1729 they were augmented to half a 
dozen ; the wishes of some, who are frighted at office, rise to the 
word dozen, a number very familiar in the Birmingham art of 
reckoning; but let it be remembered, that a vestry filled with over- 
seers, is not calculated for the meridian of business ; that the larger 
the body, the slower the motion ; and that the time and the necessi- 
ties of the poor demand dispatch. 

From the annual disbursements in assisting the poor, which I 
shall here exhibit from undoubted evidence, the curious will draw 
some useful lessons respecting the increase of manufactures, of po- 
pulation, and of property. No memoirs are found prior to 1676. 



Year. 
1676. . 


Disbursed. 
£ s. d. 

328 17 7 


Year. 
1705. . 


Disbursed. 
£ s. d. 

510 10 


1681 . . 


363 15 7 


1 706 . . . 


519 3 6 


1683. . 


410 12 1 


1708. . . 


649 15 9 


1685. . 


324 2 8 


1711 . . 


1,055 2 10 


1687. . 


343 15 6 


1712. . 


734 11 


1689. . 


395 14 11 


1715 . . 


718 2 1 


1691 . . 


. 354 I 5 


1718. . 


751 2 4 


1697 . . 


. 446 11 5 


1719. . 


1,094 10 7 


1699. . 


. 592 11 2 


1739 . . 


678 8 5 


1701 . . 


. 487 13 


1743. . 


. 799 6 1 


1703. . 


. 476 13 10 


1746 . . 


746 2 7 



[82 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



Year. 


Disbursed 






£. s. 


d. 


1747. 


. 1,071 7 


3 


1750. 


. 1,167 16 


6 


1752. 


. 1,355 6 


4 


1758. 


. 3,306 12 


5 


1760 . 


. 3,221 18 


7 


1765 . 


. 3,884 18 


9 


1767 . 


. 4,940 2 


2 


1768. 


. 4,798 2 


5 


1769. 


. 5,082 


9 


1771 . 


. 6,132 5 


10 


1774. 


. 6,115 17 


11 


1775. 


, 6,509 10 


10 


1777. 


. 6,012 5 


5 


1781 . . 


.11,605 19 


9 



Year. 


Disbursed. 






£. s. 


d. 


1782 . 


10,943 10 


3 


1785 . 


11,569 11 


5 


1787 . 


11,132 16 


9 


1789 . 


14,714 8 


7 


1791 . 


16,010 13 


5 


1794 . 


21,461 





1796 . 


24,050 





1807 . 


22,632 





1809 . 


18,606 





1811 . 


20,957 





1813 . 


41,957 





1815 . 


55,674 





1817 . 


52,735 





1818 . 


61,938 






We cannot pass through this spacious edifice without being 
pleased with its internal economy ; order influences the whole, nor 
can the cleanliness be exceeded ; but I am extremely concerned that 
I cannot pass through without complaint. There are evils in com- 
mon life which admit of no remedy, but there are very few which may 
not be lessened by prudence. The modes of nursing infancy in this 
little dominion of poverty are truly defective. It is to be feared the me- 
thod intended to train up inhabitants for the earth, annually furnishes 
the regions of the grave. Why is so little attention paid to the gene- 
ration who are to tread the stage after us ? as if we suffered them to 
be cut off that we might keep possession for ever. The unfortunate 
orphan that none will own, none will regard ; distress, in whatever 
form it appears, excites compassion, but particularly in the helpless. 
Whoever puts an infant into the arms of decrepit old age, passes 
upon it a sentence of death, and happy is that infant who finds a re- 
prieve. The tender sprig is not likely to prosper under the influence 
of the tree which attracts its nurture ; applies that nurture to itself, 
where the calls occasioned by decay are the most powerful. An old 
woman and a sprightly nurse, are characters as opposite as the anti- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 183 

podes. If we could but exercise a proper care during the first two 
years, the child would afterwards nurse itself; there is not a more 
active animal in the creation, no part of its time, while awake, is 
unemployed. Why then do we invert nature, and confine an animal 
to still life, in what is called a school, who is designed for action ? 
we cannot with indifference behold infants crowded into a room by 
the hundred, commanded perhaps by some disbanded soldier, termed 
a schoolmaster, who having changed the sword for the rod, con- 
tinues much inclined to draw blood with his arms ; where every 
individual not only re-bi*eathes his own air, but that of another. 
The whole assembly is composed of the feeble, the afl[licted, the 
maimed, and the orphan ; the result of whose confinement is a sal- 
low aspect, and a sickly frame ; but the paltry grains of knowledge 
gleaned up by the child in this barren field of learning, will never 
profit him twopence in future ; whereas, if we could introduce a 
robust habit, he would one day be a treasure to the community, and 
a greater to himself. Till he is initiated into labour, a good foun- 
dation for health may be laid in air and exercise. Whenever I see 
half a dozen of these forlorn innocents quartered upon a farm house 
a group of them taking the air under the conduct of a senior, or 
marshalled in rank and file to attend public worship, I consider the 
overseer who directed it, as possessed of tender feelings. Their or- 
derly attire and simplicity of manners, convey a degree of pleasure 
to the mind, and I behold in them the future support of that com- 
mercial interest, upon which they now lie as a burden. 

If I have dwelt long upon the little part of our species, let it plead 
my excuse to say, I cannot view a human being, however diminu- 
tive in stature, or oppressed in fortune, without considering / view 
an equal. 

WORKHOUSE BILL. 
I have often mentioned an active spirit as the characteristic of the 
inhabitants of Birmingham. This spirit never forsakes them. It dis- 
plays itself in industry, commerce, invention, and internalgovernment. 
A singular vivacity attends every pursuit till completed, or dis- 
carded for a second. The bubble of the day, like thafat the end of 



181 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

a tobacco pipe, dances in air, exhibits divers beauties, pleases the 
eye, bursts in a moment, and is followed up by another. 

There is no place in the British dominions easier to be governed 
than Birmingham, and yet we are fond of forging acts of parliament 
to govern her. 

There is seldom a point of time in which an act is not in agitation ; 
we fabricate them with such expedition, that we could employ a 
parliament of our own to pass them. But, to the honour of our 
ladies, not one of these acts is directed against them. Neither is 
there an instance upon record, that the torch of Hymen was ever 
extinguished by the breath of Marriot, in Doctors Commons. 

In the spring of 1783, we had four acts upon the anvil. Every 
man of the least consequence becomes a legislator, and wishes to 
lend his assistance in framing an act ; so that instead of one lord, 
as formerly, we now, like the Philistines, have three thousand. 

An act of parliament, abstractedly considered, is a dead matter ; 
it cannot operate of itself; like a plaster, it must be applied to the 
evil, or that evil will remain. We vainly expect a law to perform 
the intended work ; if it does not, we procure another to make it. 
Thus the canal, by one act in 1767, hobbled on like a man with one 
leg ; but a second, in 1770, furnished a pair. The lamp act, pro- 
cured in 1769, was worn to rags, and mended with another in 1773; 
^nd this second has been long out of repair, and waits for a third.* 

We carry the same spirit into our bye-laws, and with the same 
success. Schemes have been devised, to oblige every man to pay 
levies ; but it was found difficult to extract money from him who 
had none. 



* Other acts for the government of the parish were procured in 
1801 and 1812; at present the management is vested in twelve 
overseers, elected annually, and upwards of one hundred guardians, 
elected every three years. By a subsequent act, assistant overseers, 
for collecting the poor rates, Sec. were appointed. The Asylum for 
infant poor, situated in Summer-lane, is under the superintendence 
of the overseers and guardians. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 185 

In 1754, we brought the manufacture of packthread into the work- 
house, to reduce the levies ; — the levies increased. A spirited over- 
seer afterwards, for the same reason, as if poverty was not a sufficient 
stigma, badged the poor. The levies still increased. 

The advance of bread in 1756, induced the officers to step out of 
the common track — perhaps out of their knowledge, — and, at the 
expence of half a lev}^ fit up an apparatus for grinding corn in the 
house. Thus, by sacrificing half one levy, many would he saved. 
However, in the pursuit, many happened to be lost. In 1761, the 
apparatus was sold at a farther loss, and the overseers sheltered 
themselves under the charge of idleness against the paupers. 

In 1766, the spinning of mop-yarn was introduced, which might, 
with attention, have turned to account ; but unfortunately the yarn 
proved of less value than the wool. 

Others, with equal wisdom, were to ease the levies by feeding a 
drove of pigs, which, agreeable to their own nature, ran backwards. 
Renting a piece of ground, by way of garden, which supplied the 
house with a pennyworth of vegetables for two-pence, adding a few 
cows and a pasture ; but as the end of all was loss, the levies in- 
creased. 

In 1780, two collectors were appointed, at fifty guineas each, 
which would save the town many a hundred ; — still the levies in- 
creased. 

A petition was this sessions presented, for an act to overturn the 
whole pauper system (for our heads are as fond of new fashions in 
parochial government, as in the hats which cover them) to erect a 
superb workhouse, at the expence of £10,000 with powers to borrow 
£15,000, which grand design was to reduce the levies one-third. 
The levies will increase. 

The reasons openly alledged were, " The out-pensioners, which 
cost £7000 a-year, are the chief foundation of our public grievances; 
that the poor ought to be employed in the house, lest their morals 
become injured by the shops, which prevents them from being taken 
into family service; and the crowded state of the workhouse." — 
But whether the pride of an overseer, in perpetuating his name, is 
not the pendulum which set the machine in motion ? Or, whether 



186 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

a man, as well as a spider, may not create a place, and, like that — 
Jill it with himself? 

The bill directs, that the inhabitants shall chuse a number of 
guardians by ballot, who shall erect a workhouse on Birmingham 
Heath ;— a spot as airy as the scheme ; conduct a manufacture, and 
the poor; dispose of the present workhouse ; seize and confine idle 
or disorderly persons, and keep them to labour till they have reim- 
bursed the parish all expences. 

But it may be asked whether spending £15,000 is likely to re- 
duce the levies? — Whether we shall be laughed at for throwing by 
a building, the last wing of which cost a thousand pounds, after 
using it only three years ? 

Our commerce is carried on by reciprocal obligation. Every 
overseer has his friends whom he cannot refuse to serve; nay, 
whom he may even wish to serve if that service costs him nothing. 
Hence that over-grown monster, so justly complained of, the 
weekly tickets ; it follows whether a large body of guardians are 
not likely to have more friends to serve than a few overseers ? Whe- 
ther the trades of the town, by a considerable manufacture esta- 
blished at the workhouse, will not be deprived of their most useful 
hands ? Whether it is not a maxim of the wisest men who have 
filled the office, to endeavour to keep the poor out of the house ? 
For, if they are admitted, they become more chargeable, nor will 
they leave it without clothing. 

A workhouse is a kind of prison, and a dreadful one to those of 
tender feelings. Whether the health of an individual, the ideas of 
rectitude, or the natural right of our species, would not be infringed 
by a cruel imprisonment. 

If a man has followed an occupation forty years, and necessity 
sends him to the parish, whether is it preferable to teach him a new 
trade, or suffer him to earn what he can at his old ? If we decide 
for the latter, whether he had better walk four hundred yards to 
business or four miles, his own infirmity will determine this ques- 
tion. 

If a young widow be left with two children, shall she pay a girl 
sixpence a week to tend them, while she earns five shillings at the 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 187 

shops, and is allowed two by the parish, or shall all three reside in 
the house, at the weekly expence of six, and she be employed in 
nursing them ? If we again declare for the former, it follows that 
the parish will not only save four shillings a week, but the commu- 
nity may gain half-a-crown by her labour. 

Whether the morals of the children are more likely to be injured 
by the shops, than the morals of half the children in town, many of 
whom labour to procure levies for the workhouse ? 

Whether the morals of a child be more corrupted in a small shop, 
consisting of a few persons, or in a large one at the workhouse, con- 
sisting of hundreds'? 

Shall we, because the house has been crowded a few weeks, throw 
away £15,000, followed by a train of evils? A few months ago I 
saw in it a large number of vacant beds. Besides, at a small ex- 
pence, and without impeding the circulation of air, conveniency 
may be made for one hundred more. 

Did a manufacture ever prosper under a multitude of inspec- 
tors, not one of which is to taste the least benefit ? 

As public business, which admits no profit, such as vestry assem- 
blies, commissions of lamps, turnpike meetings, &c. are thinly at- 
tended, even in town ; what reason is there to expect attendance at 
a board two miles in the country ? 

The workhouse may be deemed The Nursery of Birmingham , 
in which she deposits her infants for future service : the unfortunate 
and the idle, till they can be set upon their own basis ; and the de- 
crepit, during the few remaining sands in their glass. If we there- 
fore carry the workhouse to a distance, whether we shall not inter- 
rupt that necessary intercourse which ought to subsist between a 
mother and her offspring? As sudden sickness, indications of child- 
birth, &c. require immediate assistance, a life in extreme danger 
may chance to be lost by the length of the road. 

If we keep the disorderly till they have reimbursed the parish, 
whether we do not acquire an inheritance for life ? 

We censure the officer who pursues a phantom at the expence of 
others ; we praise him who teaches the poor to live. 



l«8 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

All the evils complained of, may be removed by attention in the 
man ; the remedy is not in an act. He therefore accuses his own 
want of application, in soliciting government to do what he might do 
himself. Expences are saved by private acts of economy, not by 
public Acts of Parliament. 

It has long been said, think and act ; but as our internal legisla- 
tors chuse to reverse the maxim by fitting up an extensive shop ; 
then seeking a trade to bring in, perhaps they may place over the 
grand entrance, act and think. 

One remark should never be lost sight of, the more we tax the 
inhabitants, the sooner they will leave us, and carry off the 
trades. 

OLD CROSS. 

So called, because prior to the Welch Cross ; before the erection 
of this last, it was simply called — The Cross. 

The use of the Market Cross is very ancient, though not equal to 
the market, for this began with civilization. 

Christianity first appeared in Britain under the Romans ; but, in 
the sixth centuxy, under the Saxon government, it had made such 
an amazing progress, that every man seemed to be not only almost a 
Christian, but it was unfashionable not to have been a zealous one. 
The cross of Christ was frequently mentioned in conversation and 
afterwards became an oath. It was hackneyed about the streets, 
sometimes in the pocket, or about the neck ; sometimes it was fixed 
upon the church, which we see at this day, and always hoisted to 
the top of the steeple. The rudiments of learning began with the 
cross; hence it stands to this moment as a frontispiece to the bat- 
tledore, which likewise bears its name. 

This important article of religion was thought to answer two va- 
luable purposes, that of collecting the people and containing a charm 
against ghosts, evil spirits, &.c. with the idea of which that age was 
much infested. To accomplish these singular ends it was blended 
into the common actions of life, and at that period it entered the 
market-place. A few circular steps, from the centre of which issued 
an elevated pillar, terminating in a cross, was the general fashion 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. . 189 

throughout the kingdom ; and perhaps our Vulcanian ancestors 
knew no other for twelve hundred years, this being renewed about 
once every century, till the year 1702, when the Old Cross was 
erected, at the expence of £80. 9s. Id. This was the first upon that 
spot ever honoured with a roof; the under part was found a useful 
shelter for the market people. The room over it was designed for 
the court leet, and other public business, which, during the resi- 
dence of the lords upon the manor, had been transacted in one of 
their detached apartments then in being, but after the removal of the 
lords, in 1537, the business was done in the Leather-hall, which 
occupied the whole east end of New-street, a covered gateway of 
twelve feet excepted, and afterwards in the Old Cross. 

This building was taken down, in 1784, and now the inhabitants 
have the pleasure of sleeping over public business in a private bed- 
chamber, 

WELCH CROSS. 

If a reader, fond of antiquity, should object that I have com- 
prised the Ancient State of Birmingham in too small a compass, 
and that I ought to have extended it, — I answer, when a man has 
not much to say, he ought to be hissed out of authorship, if he picks 
the pocket of his friend by saying much ; neither does antiquity end 
with the closing of the account of the ancient state of Birmingham, 
for in some of the chapters I have led him through the mazes 
of time to present him with a modern prospect. 

In erecting a new building we generally use the few materials of 
the old as far as they will extend. Birmingham may be considered 
as one vast and modern edifice, of which the ancient materials make 
but a very small part ; the extensive ne7v seems to surround the 
minute old, as if to protect it. 

Upon the spot where the Welch Cross now stands, probably 
stood a finger-post, to direct the stranger that could read, (for there 
vi^ere not many) the roads to Wolverhampton and Lichfield.* 



* The Welch Cross was demolished in 1803. 



190 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

Though the ancient post and the modern cross might succeed 
each other, yet this difference was between them, one stood at a 
distance from the town, the other stands near its centre. 

By some antique writings it appears, that 200 years ago this spot 
bore the name of the Welch J]nd, perhaps from the number of Welch 
in its neighbourhood, or rather from its being the great road to that 
principality, and was at that time the extremity of the town, odd 
houses excepted. This is corroborated by a circumstance I have 
twice mentioned already, that when Birmingham unfortunately fell 
under the frowns of Prince Rupert, and he determined to reduce it 
to ashes for succouring an enemy, it is reasonable to suppose he be- 
gan at the exterior, which was then in Bull-street, about twelve 
houses above^the cross. 

If we were ignorant of the date of this Cross, the style of the build- 
ing itself would inform us, that it rose in the beginning of the pre- 
sent century, and was designed, as population encreased, for a Satur- 
day market ; yet, although it is used in some degree for that purpose, 
the people never heartily adopted the measure. 

In a town like Birmingham, a commodious market-place, for we 
have nothing that bears the name, would be extremely useful. Ef- 
forts have been used to make one, of a large area, late a bowling- 
green, in Corbet's-alley ; also some other places have been mentioned, 
but I am persuaded the market people would suffer the grass to 
grow in it as peaceably as in their own fields. We are not easily 
drawn from ancient custom, except by interest. 

For want of a convenient place where the sellers may be collected 
into one point, they are scattered into various parts of the town^ 
Corn is sold by sample in the Bull-ring ; the eatable productions of 
the garden, in the same place. Butchers stalls occupy Spiceal- 
street; one would think a narrow street was preferred, that no cus- 
tomer should be suffered to pass by. Flowers, shrubs, &c at the 
ends of Philip-street and Moor-street ; beds of earthen-ware lie in the 
middle of the foot-ways ; and a double range of insignificant stalls, 
in the front of the shambles, choak up the passage. The beast market 
is kept in Dale-end ; that for pigs, sheep, and horses, in New-street ; 
cheese issued from one of our principal inns, but now from an open 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 191 

yard in Dale End ; fruit, fowls, and butter, are sold at the Old Cross; 
nay, it is difficult to mention a place where they are not. We may 
observe, if a man has an article to sell which another wants to buy, 
they will quickly find each other out,* 

Though the market-inconveniences are great, a man seldom brings 
a commodity for the support of life, or of luxury, and returns with- 
out a customer. Yet even this crowded state of the market, danger- 
ous to the feeble, has its advantages. Much business is transacted 
in a little time ; the first customer is obliged to use dispatch, before 
he is justled out by a second. To stand all the day idle in the 
market-place ^ is not known among us. 

GENERAL HOSPITAL. 

Though charity is one of the most amiable qualities of humanity, 
yet, like Cupid, she ought to be represented blind ; or, like justice, 
hoodwinked. None of the virtues have been so much misapplied ; 
giving to the hungry^ is sometimes only another word for giving 
to the idle. We know of but two ways in which this excellence 
can exert itself; improving the mind^ and nourishing the hody. — 
To help him who mill not help himself, or indiscriminately to re- 
lieve those that want, is totally to mistake the end, for want is often 
met with ; but to supply those who cannot supply themselves, be- 
comes real charity. Some worthy Christians have taken it into 
their heads to relieve cdl, for fear of omitting the right. What 
should we think of the constable who seizes every person he meets 
with for fear of missing the thief? Between the simple words, 
therefore, of will not and cannot, runs the fine barrier between 
real and mistaken charity. 

This virtue, so strongly inculcated by the christian system, has, 
during the last seventeen centuries, appeared in a variety of forms, 
and some of them have been detrimental to the interest they were 
meant to serve. Man is not born altogether to serve himself, but 



* Detailed particulars of the new buildings for markets, &c. will 
be found among the accounts of modern improvements. 



192 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

the community ; if he camiot exist without the assistance of others, 
it follows that others ought to be assisted by him, but if condemned 
to obscurity in the cell he is then fed by the aid of the public, while 
that public derives none from him. 

Estates have sometimes been devised in trust for particular uses, 
meant as charities by the giver, but have, in a few years, been di- 
verted out of their original channel to other purposes. The trust 
themselves, like so many contending princes, ardently struggle for 
sovereignty ; hence legacy and discord are intimate companions. 

The plantation of many of our English schools sprang up from 
the will of the dead, but it is observable that sterility quickly takes 
place ; the establishment of the master being properly secured, su- 
pineness enters, and the young scions of learning are retarded in their 
growth. It therefore admits a doubt whether charitable donation is 
beneficial to the world ; nay, the estate itself becomes blasted when 
bequeathed to public use, for, being the freehold of none, none will 
improve it; besides, the more dead land, the less scope for in- 
dustry. 

At the Reformation, under Queen Elizabeth, charity seemed to take 
a different appearance ; employment was found for the idle ; he that 
was able, was obliged to labour, and the parish was obliged to assist 
him who could not. Hence the kingdom became replete with work- 
houses ; these are the laudable repositories of distress. 

It has already been observed, that three classes of people merit the 
care of society ; forlorn infancy, which is too weak for its own sup- 
port ; old age, which has served the community, without serving 
itself; and accidental calamity : the two first fall under the eye of 
the parish, the last under the modern institution of the General 
Hospital. 

The shell of this plain, but noble edifice, was erected in 1766, upon 
a situation very unsuitable for its elegant front, in a narrow dirty 
lane, with an aspect directing up the hill, which should ever be 
avoided. The wings were added in 1790. 

The amiable desire of doing good in the inhabitants, seemed to 
have exceeded their ability ; and, to the grief of many, it lay dor- 
mant for twelve years. In 1778, the matter was revived with vigour; 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 193 

subscriptions filled apace, and by the next year the hospital was 
finished, at the expence of £7137. 10s. Though the benefactions 
might not amount to this enormous sum, yet they were noble, and 
truly characteristic of a generous people. The annual subscriptions, 
as they stood at Michaelmas, 1779, were £901. 19s. and at Midsum- 
mer, 1780, £932. 8s. During these nine months, 529 patients were 
admitted, of which 303 were cured, 93 relieved, 1 12 remained on the 
books, only 5 died, and but one was discharged as incurable ; an 
incontestibleproof of the sA;e/^ of the faculty, which is at least equalled 
by their humanity^ in giving their attendance gratis.* 

DERITEND BRIDGE. 

Cooper's Mill, situated upon the verge of the parishes of Aston 
and Birmingham, 400 yards below this bridge, was probably first 
erected in the peaceable ages of Saxon influence, and continued a 
part of the manorial estate till the disposal of it in 1730. 

Before the water was dammed up to supply the mill, it must have 
been so shallow, as to admit a passage between Digbeth and Deri- 
tend, over a few stepping stones ; and a gate seems to have been 
placed upon the verge of the river, to prevent encroachments 
of the cattle. This accounts for the original name, which Dugdale 
tells us was Derry-yate-end : derry (low), yate (gate), end (extre- 
mity of the parish,) witJi which it perfectly agrees. 



* The institution is under the management of governors, and is 
gratuitously attended by four physicians and four surgeons. Up- 
wards of -1000 patients are annually admitted. It is chiefly sup- 
ported by annual subscriptions ; but large amounts are triennially 
received, being the proceeds of the Musical Festivals. We give the 
profits of a few of these meetings : — 



1778 
1790 
1802 
1808 
1820 



£127 
958 
2380 
3257 
5000 



194 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The mill afterwards causing the water to be dammed up, gave 
rise to a succession of paltry bridges, chiefly of timber, to preserve 
a communication between the two streets. But in latter ages the 
passage was dignified with those of stone. In 1 750, a wretched one 
was taken down, and another erected by Henry Bradford and John 
Collins, overseers of the highway, consisting of five arches ; but 
the homely style, the steep ascent, and the circumscribed width, 
prevented encomium. 

This bridge was also demohshed in 1789, for one a leetle more 
useful, but less handsome.* 

PRISON. 

If the subject is little, but little can be said upon it ; I shall shine 
as dimly in this chapter on confinement, as in that on government. 
The traveller who sets out lame, will probably limp through the 
journey. 

Many of my friends have assured me, " That I must have expe- 
rienced much trouble in writing the History of Birmingham." But 
I assure them in return, that I range those hours among the happiest 
of my life; and part of that happiness may consist in delineating the 
bright side of human nature. Pictures of deformity, whether of 
body or of mind, disgust — the more they approach towards beauty, 
the more they charm. 

All the chapters which compose this work were formed with 
pleasure, except the latter part of that upon births and lur'ials ; 
there, being forced to apply to the parish books, I figured with 
some obstruction. Poor Alhop^ full of good-nature and affliction, 
fearful lest I should sap the church, could not receive me with 
kindness. When a man's resources lie within himself he draws at 
pleasure ; but when necessity throws him upon the parish, he draws 
in small sums, and with difficulty. 

I either have, or shall remark, for I know not in what nich I 
shall exliibit this posthumous chapter, drawn like one of our slug- 



* Some years ago this bridge was taken down, when the present 
handsome and substantial one was erected, and the top ornamented 
with cast-iron balustrades. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 195 

gish bills, tliree months after date, " that Birmingham does not 
abound in villainy, equal to some other places ; that the hand 
employed in business has less time, and less temptation ^^ to be em- 
ployed in mischief; and that one magistrate alone, corrected the 
enormities of this numerous people many years before I knew them, 
and twenty-five after." I add that the ancient Lords of Birming- 
ham, among their manorial privileges had the grant of a gallows for 
capital punishment, but as there are no traces even of the name in 
the whole manor, I am persuaded no such thing was ever erected, 
and perhaps the anvil prevented it. 

Many of the rogues among us are not of our own growth, but 
are drawn hither, as in London, to shelter in a crowd, and the easier 
in that crowd to pursue their game. Some of them fortunately 
catch, from example, the arts of industry, and become useful ; 
others continue to cheat for one or two years, till, frightened by the 
grim aspect of justice, they decamp. 

Anciently the lord of a manor exercised a sovereign power in his 
little dominion ; held a tribunal on his premises, to which was an- 
nexed a prison, furnished with implements for punishment ; these 
were claimed by the Lords of Birmingham. This crippled species 
of jurisprudence, which sometimes made a man judge in his own 
cause, from which there was no appeal, prevailed in the highlands 
of Scotland so late as the rebellion, in 1745, when the peasantry, by 
Act of Parliament, were restored to freedom. 

Early, perhaps, in the sixteenth century, when the House of Bir- 
mingham, who had been chief gaolers, were fallen, a building was 
erected which covered the east end of New-street, called the Lea- 
ther-hall ; the upper part consisted of a room, about fifty feet long, 
where the public business of the manor was transacted. The under 
part was divided into several, one of these small rooms was used for 
a prison ; but about the year 1 728, while men slept, an enemy 
came, a private agent to the lord of the manor, and erased the Lea- 
ther-hall and the Dungeon, erected three houses on the spot, and 
received their rents till 1776, when the town purchased them for 
£500 to open the way. 

A dry cellar, opposite the demolished hall, was then appropri- 
a2 



196 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

ated for a prison, till the town, of all bad places, chose the worst, 
the bottom of Peck-lane ; dark, narrow, and unwholesome within, 
and crowded with dwellings, filth, and distress without, the circula- 
tion of air is prevented. 

As a growing taste for public buildings has for some time ap- 
peared among us, we might, in the construction of a prison, unite 
elegance and use ; and the west angle of that land between New- 
street and Mount-pleasant, might be suitable for the purpose, an 
airy spot in the junction of six streets. The proprietor of the land, 
from his known attachment to Birmingham, would, I doubt not, be 
much inclined to grant a favour. — Thus I have expended ten score 
words to tell the world what another would have told them in ten — 
that our prison is wretched and we want a better.* 

PETITION FOR A CORPORATION. 

Every man seems fond of two things, riches and power ; this 
fondness necessarily springs from the heart, otherwise order would 
cease. Without the desire of riches, a man would not preserve what 
he has, nor provide for the future. " My thoughts (says a worthy 
christian) are not of this world ; I desire but one guinea to carry me 
through it." Supply him with that guinea, and he wishes another, 
lest the first should be defective. 

If it is necessary a man should possess property, it is just as neces- 
sary he should possess a power to protect it, or the world would 
quickly cheat him out of it; this power is founded on the laws of 
his country, to which he adds by way of supplement, bye-laws 
founded upon his own prudence. Those who possess riches, well 
know they are furnished with wings, and can scarcely be kept from 
flying. 

The man who has power to secure his wealth, seldom stops there ; 
he, in turn, is apt to triumph over him who has less. Riches and 
power are often seen to go hand in hand. Industry produces pro- 



* The present handsome buildings, in Moor-street, were erected 
thirty years ago, for the purposes of a prison and a public office. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 197 

perty ; which, when a little matured, looks out for command ; thus 
the inhabitants of Birmingham, who have generally something upon 
the anvil besides iron, eighty years ago, having derived wealth from 
diligence, wished to derive power from charter; therefore petitioned 
the Crown, that Birmingham might be erected into a corporation, 
tickled with the title of alderman, dazzled with the splendour of a 
silver mace, a furred gown, and a magisterial chair, they could not 
see the interest of the place ; had they succeeded that amazing growth 
would have been crippled, which has since astonished the world, 
and those trades have been fettered which have proved the greatest 
benefit. 

When a man loudly pleads for pubhc good, we shrewdly suspect 
a private emolument lurking beneath. There is nothing more detri- 
mental to good neighbourhood than men in power, where power is 
unnecessary ; free as the air we breathe, we subsist by our freedom ; 
no command is exercised among us, but that of the laws, to which 
every discreet citizen pays attention — the magistrate who distributes 
justice, tinctured with mercy, merits the thanks of society. A train 
of attendants, a white wand, and a few fiddles, are only the fringe, 
lace, and trappings of charterial office. 

Birmingham, exclusive of her market, ranks among the very 
lowest order of townships ; every petty village claims the honour of 
being a constablewick — we are no more. Our immunities are only 
the trifling privileges anciently granted to the lords ; and two thirds 
of these are lost. But, notwithstanding this seemingly forlorn state, 
perhaps there is not a place in the British dominions, where so many 
people are governed by so few officers ; pride, therefore, must have 
dictated the humble petition before us, 

I have seen a copy of this petition, signed by eighty-four of the 
inhabitants ; and though without a date, seems to be addressed to 
King George the First, about 1716 ; it alleges, " That Birmingham 
is, of late years, become very populous, from its great increase of 
trade ; is much superior to any town in the county, and but little 
inferior to any inland town in the kingdom; that it is governed only 
by a constable, and enjoys no more privileges than a village ; that 
there is no justice of peace in the town, nor any in the neighbour- 



198 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

hood, who dares act with vigour ; that the country abounds with 
rioters, who, knowing the place to be void of magistrates, assemble 
in it, pull down the meeting houses, defy the king, openly avow the 
pretender, threaten the inhabitants, and oblige them to keep watch 
in their own houses ; that the trade decays, and will stagnate, if not 
relieved. To remedy these evils, they beseech his majesty to incor- 
porate the town, and grant such privileges as will enable them to 
support their trade, the king's interest, and destroy the villainous 
attempts of the Jacobites. In consideration of the requested charter, 
they make the usual offering of lives and fortunes.'' 

A petition and the petitioner, like Janus with his two faces, looks 
different ways ; it is often treated as if it said one thing and meant 
another ; or as if it said any thing but truth. Its use, in some 
places, is to /ie on the table. Our humble petition, by some means, 
met with the fate it deserved. 

We may remark, a town without a charter, is a town without a 
shackle. If there was then a necessity to erect a corporation, because 
the town was large, there is none now, though larger ; the place was 
governed a thousand years, when only a twentieth of its present 
magnitude ; it may also be governed as well a thousand years hence, 
if it should swell to ten times its size. 

The pride of our ancestors was hurt by a petty constable ; the 
interest of us, their successors, would be hurt by a mayor ; a more 
simple government cannot be instituted, or one more efficacious ; 
that of some places is designed for parade, ours for use, and both 
answers their end. A town governed by a multitude of governors, 
is the most likely to be ill-governed. 

MILITARY ASSOCIATION. 
The use of arms is necessary to every man who has something to 
lose, or something to gain. No property will protect itself. The 
English have liberty and property to lose, but nothing to win. As 
every man is born free, the West Indian slaves have liberty to gain, 
but nothing to lose. If an African prince attempts to sell his 
people, he ought to be first sold himself, and the buyer, who acts 
so daringly opposite to the Christian precept, is yet more blameable. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 199 

He ought to have the first whip, often mended, worn out upon his 
own back. 

When Lord North's ministry was changed, in 1782, the new pre- 
mier, in a circular letter, advised the nation to arm, as the dangers 
of invasion threatened us with dreadful aspect. Intelligence from a 
quarter so authentic, locked up the door of private judgment, or we 
might have considered, that even without alliance, and with four 
principal powers upon our hands, we were rather gaining ground ; 
that the Americans were so far from attacking us, that they wished 
us to run ourselves out of breath to attack them ; that Spain had 
slumbered over a seven years' war ; that the Dutch, provoked at 
their governors for the loss of their commerce, were more inclinable 
to invade themselves than us ; and that as France bore the weight 
of the contest, we found employment for her arms without invasion, 
but perhaps the letter was only an artifice of the new state doctor, 
to represent his patient in a most deplorable state as a compliment 
to his ovm merit in recovering her. 

Whatever was the cause, nothing could be more agreeable than 
this letter to the active spirit of Birmingham. Public meetings 
were held. The rockets of war were squibbed off in the newspapers. 
The plodding tradesman and the lively hero assembled together in 
arms, and many a trophy was won in thought. 

Each man purchased a genteel blue uniform, decorated with 
epaulets of gold, which, together with his accoutrements, cost about 
£17. The gentleman, the apprentice, &,c. to the number of seventy, 
united in a body, termed by themselves, The Birmingham Asso- 
ciation, by the wag. The Brazen TFalls of the Town. Each was 
to be officer and private by ballot, which gives an idea of equality, 
and was called to exercise once a week. 

The high price of provisions, and the 17th of October, brought a 
dangerous mob into Birmingham. They wanted bread — so did we. 
— But little conference passed between them and the inhabitants. — 
They were quiet — we were pleased — and, after an hour or two's 
stay, they retreated in peace. 

In the evening, after the enemy were fled, our champions beat to 
arms, breathing vengeance against the hungry crew; and, had they 



1200 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

returned, some people verily thought our valiant heroes would have 
discharged at them. 

However laudable a system, if built upon a false basis, it will not 
stand. Equality and command, in the same person, are incompa- 
tible, therefore cannot exist together. Subordination is necessary 
in every class of life, but particularly in the military. Nothing but 
severe discipline can regulate the boisterous spirit of an army. 

A man may be bound to another, but, if he commands the band- 
age, he will quickly set himself free. This was the case with the 
military association. As their uniform resembled that of a com- 
mander, so did their temper. There were none to submit. The 
result was, the farce ended, and the curtain dropt in December by 
a quarrel with each other. 

OCCURRENCES.— EARTHQUAKE, &c. 

It is a doctrine singular and barbarous, but it is nevertheless true 
that destruction is necessary. Every species of animals would 
multiply beyond their bounds in the creation, were not means de- 
vised to thin their race. 

I perused an author in 1738, who asserted, "The world might 
maintain sixty times the number of its present inhabitants." Two 
able disputants, like those in religion, might maintain sixty argu- 
ments on the subject, and like them, leave the matter whe re they 
found it. But if restraint was removed, the present number would 
be multiplied into sixty, in much less than one century. 

Those animals appropriated for use, are suffered, or rather invited, 
to multiply without limitation. But luxury cuts off the beast, the 
pig, the sheep, and the fowl, and ill treatment the horse ; vermin of 
every kind, from the lion to the louse, are hunted to death ; a per- 
petual contest seems to exist between them and us ; they for their 
preservation, and we for their extinction. The kitten and the puppy 
are cast into the water to end their lives ; out of which the fishes 
are drawn to end theirs — animals are every where devoured by 
animals. Their grand governor, man himself, is under controul ; 
some by religious, others by interested motives. Even the fond 



HISTORY,OF BIRMINGHAM. 201 

parent seldom wishes to increase the number of those objects, which 
of all others he values most. In civilized nations the superior class 
are restrained by the laws of honour, the inferior by those of bastardy; 
but, notwithstanding these restraints, the human race would increase 
beyond measure, were they not taken off by casualties. It is in our 
species alone, that we often behold the infant flame extinguished by 
the wretched nurse. 

Three dreadful calamities attending existence, are inundations, 
fires, and earthquakes ; devastation follows their footsteps. But 
one calamity, more destructive than them all, rises from man him- 
self — war. 

Birmingham, from its elevation, is nearly exempt from the flood ; 
our inundations, instead of sweeping away life and fortune, sweep 
away the filth from the kennel. 

It is amazing, in a place crowded with people, that so much busi- 
ness, and so little mischief is done by fire ; we abound more with 
party walls, than with timber buildings. Utensils are ever ready 
to extinguish the flames, and a generous spirit to use them. I am 
not certain that a conflagration of £50, damage has happened within 
memory, except with design. 

I have only one earthquake to record, felt November 15, 1772, at 
four in the morning , it extended about eight miles in length, from 
Hall-green to Erdington, and four in breadth, of which Birmingham 
was part. The shaking of the earth continued about five seconds, 
with unequal vibration, sufficient to awake a gentle sleeper, throw 
down a knife carelessly reared up, or rattle the brass drops of a chest 
of drawers. A flock of sheep, in a field near Yardly, frightened at 
the trembling, ran away. No damage was sustained. 

PITMORE AND HAMMOND. 

Thomas Pitmore, a native of Cheshire, after consuming a fortune 
of £700, was corporal in the second regiment of foot; and John 
Hammond, an American by birth, was drummer in the thirty-fixth ; 
both of recruiting parties in Birmingham. 

Having procured a brace of pistols, they committed several rob- 
beries in the dark, on the highways. 



202 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

At eight in the evening of November 22, 1780, about five hundred 
yards short of the four mile stone in the Coleshill-road, they met 
three butchers of Birmingham, who closely followed each other in 
their return from Rugby fair. One of the robbers attempted the 
bridle of the first man, but his horse being young started out of the 
road, and ran away. The drummer then attacked the second, 
Wilfred Barwick, with " Stop your horse," and that moment, 
through the agitation of a timorous mind, discharged a pistol, and 
lodged a brace of slugs in the bowels of the unfortunate Barwick, 
who exclaimed, " I am a dead man!" and fell. 

The corporal instantly disappeared, and was afterwards by the 
light of the snow upon the ground, seen retreating to Birmingham. 
The drummer ran forwards about forty yards, and over a stile into 
Ward-end field. A fourth butcher of their company, and a lad, by 
this time came up, who, having heard the report of a pistol, seen 
the flash, and the drummer enter the field, leaped over the hedge in 
pursuit of the murderer. -A fray ensued, in which the drummer 
was seized, who desired them not to take his life, but leave him to 
to the laws of his country. 

Within half an hour, the deceased and the captive appeared to- 
gether in the same room, at the Horse-shoe. What must then be 
the feelings of a mind, susceptible of impression by nature, but cal- 
loused over by art? This is one instance, among many, which 
shews us, a life of innocence, is alone a life of happiness. 

The drummer impeached his companion, who was perhaps the 
most guilty of the two, and they were both that night lodged in the 
dungeon. 

Upon the trial, March 31, 1781, the matter was too plain to be 
controverted. The criminals were executed, and hung in chains at 
Washwood-heath, April 2 ; the corporal at the age of 25, and the 
drummer 22. 

RIOTS. 
Three principal causes of riot are, the low state of wages, the 
difference in political or religious sentiment, and the rise of pro- 



HISTORY OF 13IRMINGIIAM. 203 

visions : these causes, like inundations, produce dreadful effects, 
and like them, return at uncertain periods. 

The journeyman in Birmingham is under no temptation to demand 
an additional price for his labour, which is already higher than the 
usual mark. 

There is no nation fonder of their king than the English ; which 
is a proof that monarchy suits the genius of the people; there is no 
nation more jealous of his power, which proves that liberty is a fa- 
vourite maxim. Though the laws have complimented him with 
much, yet he well knows, a prerogative upon the stretch, is a pre- 
rogative in a dangerous state. The more a people value their prince, 
the more willing are they to contend in his favour. 

The people of England revered the memory of their beloved Saxon 
kings, and doubly lamented their fall, with that of their liberties. 
They taxed themselves into beggary, to raise the amazing sum of 
£100,000, to release Eichard the First, unjustly taken captive by 
Leopold, They protected Henry the Fifth from death, at Agincourt, 
and received that death themselves. They covered the extreme 
weakness of Henry the Sixth, who yiever said a good tiling, or did 
a bad one, with the mantle of royalty ; when a character like his, 
without a crown, would have been hunted through life ; they gave 
him the title of good king Henry, which would well have suited 
had the word king been omitted ; they sought him a place in the 
calendar of saints, and made him perform the miracles of an angel 
when dead, who could never perform the works of a man when liv- 
ing. The people shewed their attachment to Henry the Eighth, by 
submitting to the faggot and the block, at his command ; and with 
their last breath praying for their butcher. Affection for Charles 
the First, induced four of his friends to offer their own heads to 
save his. — The wrath, and the tears of the people, succeeded his 
melancholy exit. When James the Second eloped from the throne, 
and was casually picked up at Feversham by his injured subjects, 
they remembered he was their king. The Church and Queen 
Anne, like a joyous co-partnership, were toasted together. The 
barrel was willingly emptied to honour the queen, and the toaster 
lamented he could honour her no more. The nation displayed their 
b2 



204 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

love to Charles the Second, by clearing the forests. His climbing 
the oak at Boscobel, has been the destruction of more timber than 
would have filled the harbour of Portsmouth ; the tree which flou- 
rished in the field was brought to die in the street. Birmingham, 
for ninety years, honoured him with her vengeance against the 
woods, and she is, at this day, surrounded with mutilated oaks, 
which stand as martyrs to royalty. 

It is singular that the oak, which assisted the devotion of the 
Britons, composed habitations for the people, and furniture for 
those habitations, that, while standing, was an ornament to the 
country that bore it, and afterwards guarded the land which nursed 
it, should be the cause of continual riots in the reign of George the 
First. We could not readily accede to a line of strangers in pre- 
ference to our ancient race of kings, though loudly charged with 
oppression. 

Clubs and tumults supported the spirit of contention till 1 745, 
when, as our last act of animosity, we crowned an ass with turnips, 
in derision of one of the worthiest families that ever eat them. 

Power, in the hand of ignorance, is an edge-tool of the most dan- 
gerous kind. The scarcity of provisions, in 1766, excited the mur- 
murs of the poor. They began to breathe vengeance against the 
farmer, miller, and baker, for doing what they do themselves, pro- 
cure the greatest price for their property. On the market day, a 
common labourer, like Massenello of Naples, formed the resolution 
to lead a mob. He, therefore, erected his standard, which was a 
mop inverted, assembled the crowd, and roared out the old note, 
" redress of grievances." The colliers, with all their dark retinue, 
were to bring destruction from Wednesbury. Amazement seized 
the town ! the people of fortune trembled. John Wyrley, an able 
magistrate, for the first time frightened in office, with quivering lips, 
and a pale aspect, swore in about eighty constables, to oppose the 
rising storm, armed each of them with a staff of authority, warm 
from the turning-lathe, and applied to the War-office for a military 
force. 

The lime-powdered monarch began to fabricate his own laws, 
and direct the price of every article, which was punctually obeyed. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 205 

Port, or power, soon overcome a weak head ; the more copious 
the draught, the more quick intoxication. He entered many of 
the shops and was every where treated with the utmost reverence ; 
took what goods he pleased, and distributed them among his fol- 
lowers, till one of the inhabitants, provoked beyond measure at his 
insolence, gave him a hearty kick, when the hero and his conse- 
quence, like that of Wat Tyler, fell together. — Thus ended a reign 
of seven hours — the sovereign was committed to prison as sovereigns 
ought, in the abuse of power, and harmony was restored without 
blood. 



[PREFACE. — It is uncommon to find two Prefaces to one hooJc, 
written hy the same author, which contradict each other, and 
yet are hoth true. I have celebrated in the former preface, 
also in the work, that industry, civility, and peaceable turn, 
which does honour to a people — all founded in fact. But now 
we enter upon bigotry, licentiousness, disorder, insult, rapine, 
burnings, and murder. I am exceedingly sorry this is also 
true.] 



THE RIOTS IN 1791. 
These unhappy riots, which began on Thursday, July 14, 
1791, have astonished all Europe, as a shameful attack upon pri- 
vate property, which, in all civilized nations, is held sacred. They 
were a disgrace to humanity, and a lasting stigma on the place. — 
About eighty-one persons, of various denominations, having met at 
the Hotel to celebrate the anniversary of the French Revolution, the 
mob collected and broke the windows. They went afterwards to 
the New Meeting (Dr. Priestley's) which they burnt ; then to the 
Old Meeting, which also they left in ashes. From thence they 
marched to the Doctor's house, about a mile from town. Here his 
valuable furniture, with a more valuable library, and, what is most 



206 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

to be regretted, his philosophical apparatus, and manuscripts, to- 
gether with the extensive buildings, ended in flames. 

Friday, July 15, began with the conflagration of the mansion of 
John Ryland, Esq. at Easy-hill. And while one mob were con- 
suming Bordesley Hall, the elegant and costly residence of John 
Taylor, Esq., another was destroying my house, stock-in-trade, 
books, and furniture. 

Saturday, the 16th, began with burning my other house and fur- 
niture, at Saltley, two miles distant. Next, the beautiful residence 
of George Humphrys, Esq. fell a prey to rapine; also that of Wil- 
liam Russell, Esq. of Showel Green, ended in a blaze. Moseley 
Hall, the property of John Taylor, Esq. next felt their vengeance. 
This was occupied by Lady Carhampton, mother to the Duchess of 
Cumberland ; but neither the years of this lady, being blind with 
age, nor her alliance to the king, could protect it. She was ordered 
to remove her furniture, and, " if she wanted help, they would as- 
sist her." She was, therefore, like Lot, hastened away before the 
flames arose, but not by angels. They next carried the faggot to 
the Rev. Mr. Hobson's, and burnt his all ; then to Mr. Harwood's, 
whose house was licensed for public worship; then plundered that 
of the Rev, Mr. Coates, and also those of Mr. Hawkes, and Thomas 
Russell, Esq. 

Sunday, the 17th, was ushered in with the burning of King's-wood 
Meeting House, the Parsonage House, with that of Mr. Cox, li- 
censed for divine service. Returning nearer Birmingham, they 
plundered Edgbaston Hall, the residence of Dr. Withering, and at- 
tacked that of Mr. Male. But hearing, in the evening, that a troop 
of light horse were near, they silently mouldered away. 

The damage, by this outrage, was more than £60,000. An act 
was obtained, in 1793, to reimburse the sufferers, who recovered, in 
their various trials, £26,961. 2s. 3d., which were conducted at the 
expence of £13,000. The trustees of the New Meeting having lost 
their licence, were debarred a suit; the king was, therefore, gra- 
ciously pleased, upon application of Mr. Russell to Mr. Pitt, to grant 
a warrant upon the treasury for £2000. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 207 

The trustees of the Old Meethig House recovered, at law, da- 
mages to the amount of £1,390. 7s. 5d. 

THE CONJURERS. 

No head is a vacuum. Some, like a paltry cottage, are ill accommo- 
dated, dark, and circumscribed; others are capacious as Westminster 
Hall. Though none are immense, yet they are capable of immense 
furniture. The more room is taken up by knowledge, the less re- 
mains for credulity. The more a man is acquainted with things, the 
more willing io gim up the ghost. Every town and village within 
my knowledge, has been pestered with spirits ; which appear in 
horrid forms to the imagination in the winter night — but the spirits 
which haunt Birmingham, are those of industry and luxury. 

If we examine the whole parish, we cannot produce one old witch ; 
but we have plenty of young, who exercise a powerful influence over 
us. Should the ladies accuse the harsh epithet, they will please to 
consider, I allow them, what of all things they most wish for, poiver 
— therefore the balance is in my favour. 

If we pass through the planetary worlds, we shall be able to mus- 
ter up two conjurors, who endeavoured to shine with the stars. The 
first, John Walton, who was so busy in casting the nativity of others, 
that he forgot his own. Conscious of an application to himself, for 
the discovery of stolen goods, he employed his people to steal them. 
And though, for many years confined to his bed by infirmity, he 
could conjure away the property of others, and, for a reward, re- 
conjure it again. 

The prevalence of this evil, induced the legislature, in 1725, to 
make the reception of stolen goods capital. The first sacrifice to 
this law was the noted Jonathan Wild. 

The officers of justice, in 1732, pulled Walton out of his bed, in 
an obscure cottage, one furlong from the town, now called Brickhill- 

lane, carried him to prison, and from thence to the gallows they 

had better have carried him to the workhouse, and his followers to 
the anvil. 

To him succeeded Francis Kimberley, the only i-easonincr animal 
who reside^ at No. 60, in Dale-end, from his early youth to extreme 



208 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

age. An hermit in a crowd ! the windows of his house were strangers 
to light. The shutters forgot to open , his chimney to smoke. His 
cellar, though amply furnished, never knew moisture. 

He spent threescore years in filling six rooms with such trumpery 
as is just too good to be thrown away, and too bad to be kept. His 
life was as inoffensive as long. Instead of stealing the goods which 
other people use, he purchased what he could not use himself He 
was not anxious what kind of property entered his house ; if there 
was hulk he was satisfied. 

His dark house, and his dark figure corresponded with each other. 
The apartments, choaked up with lumber, scarcely admitted his body, 
though of the skeleton order. Perhaps leanness is an appendage 
to the science, for I never knew a corpulent conjurer. His diet, 
regular, plain, and slender, shewed at how little expence life may be 
sustained. His library consisted of several thousand volumes, not 
one of which, I believe, he ever read ; having written, in characters 
unknown to all but himself, his name, price, and date, in the title 
page, he laid them by for ever. The highest pitch of his erudition 
was the annual almanack. 

He never wished to approach a woman, or be approached by one. 
Should the rest of men, for half a century, pay no more attention to 
the fair, some angelic hand might stick up a note, like the arctic 
circle over one of our continents, tJds world to he let. 

If he did not cultivate the human species, the spiders more 
numerous than his books, enjoyed an uninterrupted reign of quiet. 
The silence of the place was not broken ; the broom, the book, the 
dust, or the web, was not disturbed. Mercury and his shirt changed 
their revolutions together ; and Saturn changed his with his coat. 
He died in 1756, as conjurers usually die, unlamented. 

PUBLIC ROADS. 

Man is evidently formed for society ; the intercourse of one with 
another, like two blocks of marble in friction, reduces the rough 
prominences of behaviour, and gives a polish to the manners. 

Whatever tends to promote social connexion, improve commerce, 
or stamp an additional value upon property, is worthy of attention. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 209 

Perhaps there is not a circumstance that points more favourably 
towards these great designs, than commodious roads. According 
as a country is improved in her roads, so will she stand in the scale 
of civilization. It is a characteristic by which we may pronounce 
with safety. The manners and the roads of the English have been 
refining together for about 1700 years. If any period of time is 
distinguished with a more rapid improvement in one, it is also in 
the other. 

Our Saxon ancestors, of dusky memory, seldom stepped from 
under the smoke of Birmingham. We have a common observation 
among us, that even so late as William the Third, the roads were 
in so dangerous a state, that a man usually made his will, and took 
a formal farewell of his friends, before he durst venture upon a 
journey to London, which, perhaps, was thought then of as much 
consequence as a voyage to America now. A dangerous road is 
unfavourable both to commerce and to friendship ; a man is unwill- 
ing to venture his neck to sell his productions, or even visit his 
friend ; if a dreadful road lies between them, it will be apt to anni- 
hilate friendship. 

Landed property, in particular, improves with the road. If a 
farmer cannot bring his produce to market, he cannot give much 
for his land, neither can that land well be improved, or the market 
properly supplied. Upon a well-formed road, therefore, might, 
with propriety, be placed the figures of commerce, of friendship, 
and of agriculture as presiding over it. 

There are but very few observations necessary in forming a road, 
and those few are very simple ; to expel whatever is hurtful and 
invite whatever is beneficial. The breaking-up of a long frost, by 
loosening the foundations, is injurious, and very heavy carriages 
ought to be prevented, till the weather unites the disjointed parti- 
cles, which will soon happen. But the grand enemy is water, and 
as this will inevitably fall, every means should be used to discharge 
it ; drains ought to be frequent, that the water may not lie upon the 
road. 

The great benefits are the sun and tlie wind ; the surveyor should 
use every method for the admission of these friendly aids, that they 



210 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

may dispel the moisture which cannot run oif. For this purpose 
all public roads ought to be sixty feet wide, all trees and hedges, 
within thirty feet of the centre, be under the controul of the com- 
missioners, with full liberty of drawing off the water in what man- 
ner they judge necessary. 

The Romans were the most accomplished masters we know of 
in this useful art, yet even they seem to have forgot the under- 
drain, for it is evident, at this day, where their road runs along the 
declivity of a hill, the water dams up, flows over, and injures the 
road. Care should be taken in properly forming a road at first, 
otherwise you may botch it for a whole century, and at the end of 
that long period it will be only a botch itself. A wide road will 
put the innocent traveller out of fear of the waggoners — not the 
most civilized of the human race. 

From Birmingham, as from a grand centre, issue twelve roads, 
that point to as many towns ; some of these, within memory, have 
scarcely been passable ; all are mended, but though much is done, 
more is wanted. In an upland country, like that about Birming- 
ham, where there is no river of size, and where the heads only of 
the streams show themselves ; the stranger would be surprised to 
hear that through most of these twelve roads he cannot travel in a 
flood with safety. For want of causeways and bridges, the water is 
sufiered to flow over the road higher than the stirrup ; every stream, 
though only the size of a tobacco-pipe, ought to be carried through 
an under-drain, never to run over the road. 

At Saltley, in the way to Coleshill, which is ten miles, for want 
of a causeway with an arch or two, every flood annoys the passenger 
and the road. At Coleshill Hall, till the year 1779, he had to pass 
a dangerous river. 

One mile from Birmingham, upon the Lichfield road, sixteen 
miles, to the disgrace of the community, was a river without a 
bridge, till 1792. In 1777 the country was inclined to solicit Par- 
liament for a Turnpike Act, but the matter fell to the ground through 
private views. One would think that penny can never be ill laid 
out which carries a man ten miles with pleasure and safety. The 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 211 

hand of nature has been more beneficent, both to this, and to the 
Stafford road, which is twenty-eight miles, than that of art. 

The road to Walsall, ten miles, is lately made good. That to 
Wolverhampton, thirteen miles, is much improved since the coal 
teams left it. 

The road to Dudley, ten miles, is despicable beyond description. 
The unwilling traveller is obliged to go two miles about, through a 
bad road, to avoid a worse.* 

That to Hales-Owen, eight miles, like the life of man, is chequered 
with good and evil, chiefly the latter. 

To Bromsgrove, tv.elve miles, made extremely commodious 
under the patronage of John Kettle, Esq. 

To Alcester, about twenty, formed in 1767, upon a tolerable 
plan, but is rather too narrow, through a desolate country, which at 
present scarcely defrays the expence ; but that country seems to 
improve with the road. 

Those to Stratford and Warwick, about twenty miles each, are 
much used and much neglected. 

That to Coventry, about the same distance, can only be equalled 
by the Dudley road. The genius of the age has forgot, in some of 
these roads, to accommodate the foot passenger with a causeway. 

The surveyor will be inclined to ask, how can a capital be raised 
to defray this enormous expence ? Suffer rne to reply with an ex- 
pression in the life of Oliver Cromwell, " He that lays out money 
when necessary, and only then, will accomplish matters beyond the 
reach of imagination." 

Government long practised the impolitic mode of transporting 
vast numbers of her people to America, under the character of 
felons ; these, who are generally in the prime of life, might be made 
extremely useful to that country which they formerly robbed, and 
against which they often carry arms. It would be easy to reduce 
this ferocious race under a kind of martial discipline ; to badge 



* The reader must recollect it is upwards of thirty years since 
this was written. 

c2 



212 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

tliem with a mark only removeable by tlie governors, for hope 
should ever be left for repentance, and to employ them in the rougher 
arts of life, according to the nature of the crime, and the ability of 
the body ; such as working in the coal mines in Northumberland, 
the lead mines in Derbyshire, the tin mines in Cornwall, cultivating 
waste lands, banking after inundations, forming canals, cleansing 
the beds of rivers, assisting in harvest, and in forming and mending 
the roads ; these " hewers of wood and drawers of water" would 
be a corps of reserve against any emergency. From this magazine 
of villany, the British navy might be equipped with considerable 
advantage. 

CANAL. 

An act was obtained in 1767, to make a canal between Birming- 
ham and the coal delphs about Wednesbury. The necessary arti- 
cle of coal, before this act, was brought by land, at about thirteen 
shillings per ton, but now at 8s. 4d. It was common to see a train 
of carriages for miles, to the great destruction of the road, and the 
annoyance of travellers. 

This duct is extended in the whole to about twenty-two miles in 
length, till it unites with what we may justly term the grand artery, 
or Staffordshire Canal ; which, crossing the island, communicates 
with Hull. Bristol, and Liverpool. The expence was about 
£70,000, divided into shai-es, £140 each, of which no man can pur- 
chase more than ten, and which, in 1782, sold for about £370; 
and, in 1 792, for £ 1 1 70. 

The proprietors took a perpetual lease of six acres of land of Sir 
Thomas Gooch, at £47 per annum, which is converted into a wharf, 
upon the front of which is erected a handsome office for the dis- 
patch of business. 

This watery passage, exclusive of loading the proprietors with 
wealth, tends greatly to the improvement of some branches of trade, 
by introducing heavy materials at a small expence, such as pig-iron 
for the founderies, lime-stone, articles for the manufacture of brass 
aiul steel, also stone, brick, slate, timber, kc. It is happy for the 



lllsrOlIV OF BIHMIXGIIAM. 213 

world that public interest is grafted upon private, and that both 
flourish together. 

This grand work, like other productions of Birmingham birth, 
was rather hasty ; the managers, not being able to find patience to 
worm round the hill atSmethwick, or cut through, have wisely tra- 
velled over it by the help of twelve locks ; with six they mount the 
summit, and with six more descend to the former level; forgettin;^ 
the great waste of water, and the small supply from the rivulets, 
and also the amazing loss of time in climbing this curious ladder, 
consisting of twelve liquid steps. These locks are now reduced in 
number. It is worthy of remark, that the level of the earth is 
nearly the same at Birmingham as at the pits ; what benefit then 
would accrue to commerce, could the boats travel a dead flat of 
fourteen miles without interruption ? The use of the canal would 
increase, great variety of goods be brought which are now excluded, 
and these delivered with more expedition, with less expence, and the 
waste of water never felt; but, by the introduction of twelve unne- 
cessary locks, the company may experience five plagues more than 
fell on Egypt. 

The boats are nearly alike, constructed to fit the locks, carry 
about twenty-five tons, and are each drawn by something like the 
skeleton of a horse, covered with skin ; whether he subsists upon 
the scent of the water is a doubt ; but whether his life is a scene of 
afiliction is not ; for the unfeeling driver has no employment but to 
whip him from one end of the canal to the other. A\'hile the teams 
practised the turnpike road the lash was divided among five unfor- 
tunate animals, but now the whole wrath of the driver falls ui)on 
one. We can scarcely view a boat travelling this liquid road, 
without raising opposite sensations — pleased to think of its great 
benefit to the community, and grieved to behold wanton punishment. 
I see a large field of cruelty expanding before me which I could 
easily prevail with myself to enter ; in which we behold the child 
plucking a wing and a leg ofi" a fly to try how the poor insect can 
perform with half his limbs ; or running a pin through the poste- 
riors of a locust, to observe it spinning through the air, like a 
comet, drawing a tail of thread. If we allow man has a right to 



2 1 1 J I IS'IXJ [\ Y O i' li i H M ! N G li A M . 

destroy noxious animals, we cannot allow he has a right to protract 
their pain by a lingering death. By fine gradations the modes of 
cruelty improve with years, in pinching the tail of a cat for the mu- 
sic of her voice, kickmg a dog because we have trod upon his foot, 
or hanging him mx fun, till we arrive at the painter, who begged 
the life of a criminal that he might torture him to death with the 
severest pangs, to catcli the agonizing feature and transfer it into his 
I'avourite piece of a dying Saviour. But did that Saviour teach 
such doctrine? Humanity would wish rather to have lost the 
piece than have heard of the cruelty. What if the injured ghost of 
the criminal is at this moment torturing that of the painter ? — But 
as this capacious field is beyond the line I profess, and, as I have no 
direct accusation against the people of my regard I shall not 
enter it. 

BILSTON CANAL ACT. 

Envy, like a dark shadow, follows closely the footsteps of pros- 
perity ; success in any undertaking out of the circle of genius, pro- 
duces a rival. This I have instanced in our hackney coaches. Pro- 
fits, like a round bellied bottle, may seem bulky, which, like that, 
will not bear dividing. Thus Orator Jones, in 1774, opened a de- 
bating society at the Red Lion ; he quickly filled a large room with 
customers, and his pockets with money, but he had not prudence to 
keep either. His success opened a rival society at the King's 
Hend, which, in a few weeks, annihilated both. 

The growing profits of our canal company, already mentioned, 
had increased the shares from £140, in 1768, to 400 guineas in 
1782. These emoluments being thought enormous, a rival com- 
pany sprung up, which, in 1783, petitioned Parliament to partake 
of those emoluments by opening a parallel cut from some of the 
neighbouring coal-pits, to proceed along the lower level, and termi- 
nate in Digbeth. 

A stranger might ask " how the water in our upland country, 
which had never supplied one canal, could supply two ? — Whether 
the second canal was not likely to rob the first? — Whether one 
able canal is not preferable to tvvo lame ones? — If a man sells me 



lIlSTOIiV OF 15IHML\VGLIAM. 215 

an article cheaper than I can purchase it elsewhere, whether it is 
of consequence to me what are his profits ? And whether two 
companies in rivalship would destroy that harmony which has long 
subsisted in Birmingham y"' 

The new company urged " the necessity of another canal, lest the 
old should not perform the business of the town ; that twenty per 
cent, is an unreasonable return ; that they could afford coals under 
the present price ; that the south country teams would procure a 
readier supply from Digbeth than from the present wharf, and not 
passing through the streets, would be prevented from injuring the 
pavement ; and that the goods from the Trent would come to their 
wharf by a run of eighteen miles nearer than to the other." 

The old company alleged, " that they ventured their property in 
an uncertain pursuit, which, had it not succeeded, would have 
ruined many individuals; therefore the pi*esent gains were only a 
recompense for former hazard ; tliat this property was expended 
upon the faith of Parliament, who were obliged in honour to pro- 
tect it, otherwise no man would risk his fortune upon a public un- 
dertaking ; for, should they allow a second canal, why not a third, 
which would become a wanton destruction of right, without benefit ; 
that although the profit of the original subscribers might seem 
large, those subscribers are but few ; many have bought at a sub- 
sequent price, which barely pays common interest, and this is all 
their support ; therefore a reduction would be barbarous on one 
side, and sensibly felt on the other ; and, as the present canal amply 
supplies the town and country, it would be I'idiculous to cut away 
good land to make another, which would ruin both." 

I shall not examine the reasons of either, but leave the disinte- 
rested reader to weigh both in his own balance. When two oppo- 
nents have said all that is true, they generally say something more ; 
rancour holds the place of argument. 

Both parties beat up for volunteers in the town to strengthen 
their forces; from words of acrimony they came to those of viru- 
lence ; then the powerful batteries of hand-bills and newspapers 
were opened ; every town, within fifty miles, interested on either 
side, was moved to petition, and both prepared for a grand 



216' HISTORY OF IJIRMINGHAM. 

attack, confident of victory. Perhaps a contest among friends, in 
matters of property, will remove that peace of mind which twenty 
per cent, will not replace. Each party possessed that activity of 
spirit for which Birmingham is famous, and seemed to divide be- 
tween them the legislative strength of the nation ; every corner of 
the two houses was ransacked for a vote ; the throne was the only 
power unsolicited. Perhaps at the reading, when both parties had 
marshalled their forces, there was the fullest House of Commons 
ever remembered on a private bill. 

The new company promised much, for besides the cut from Wed- 
nesbury to Digbeth, they would open another to join the two canals 
of Stafford and Coventry, in which a large tract of country was in- 
terested. 

As the old company were the first adventurers, the house gave 
them the option to perform this Herculean labour, which they ac- 
cepted. Thus the new proprietors, by losing, will save £50,000, 
and the old, by winning, become sufferers. 

Since the above, acts have been obtained to open canals from 
this town to Worcester, Fazely, Warwick, and Stratford. 

GENTLEMEN'S SEATS. 

This neighbourhood may justly be deemed the seat of the arts, 
but not the seat of the gentry. None of the nobility are near us, 
except William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, at Sandwell, four miles 
from Birmingham. The principal houses, in our environs, are 
those of the late Sir Charles Holte, who was member for the county, 
at Aston Hall ; Sir Henry Gough Calthorpe, member for Bramber, 
at Edgbaston ; George Birch, Esq. at Handsworth ; John Gough, 
Esq. at Perry ; and John Taylor, Esq. at Moseley ; all joining to 
the manor of Birmingham. Exclusive of these, are many elegant 
retreats of our inhabitants, acquired by commercial success. 

Full fed with vanity is an author, when two readers strive to 
catch up his work for the pleasure of perusing it ; but, perchance, 
if two readers dip into this chapter, they may strive to lay it down. 

I have hitherto written to the world, but now to a small part, 
the ayitiquarians ; nay, a small part of the sensible part : for a 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAiAl. 217 

fool and an antiquarian is a contradiction ; they are, to a man, 
people of letters and penetration. If their judgment is sometimes 
erroneous, we may consider, man was never designed for perfection ; 
there is also less light to guide them in this, than in other researches 
If the traveller slips upon common ground, how will he fare if he 
treads upon ice? — Besides, in dark questions, as in intricate jour- 
nies, there are many erroneous ways for one right. If, like the 
mathematician, he can establish one point, it ascertains another. 
We may deem his pursuit one of the most arduous, and attended 
with the least profit ; his emoluments consist in the returns of plea- 
sure to his own mind. The historian only collects the matter of the 
day, and hands it to posterity ; but the antiquarian brings his trea- 
sures from remote ages, and presents them to this ; he examines 
forgotten repositories, calls things back into existence ; counteracts 
the efforts of time, and of death ; possesses something like a re- 
creative power ; collects the dust of departed matter, moulds it into 
its pristine state, exhibits the figure to view, and stamps it with a 
kind of immortality. 

Every thing has its day, whether it be a nation, a city, a castle, a 
man, or an insect ; the difference is, one is a winter's day, the other 
may be extended to the length of a summer's — an end waits upon 
all. But we cannot contemplate the end of grandeur without gloomy 
ideas. 

Birmingham is surrounded with the melancholy remains of ex- 
tinguished greatness ; the decayed habitations of decayed gentry, 
fill the mind with sorrowful reflections. Here the feet of those 
marked the ground, whose actions marked the page of history. 
Their arms glistened in the field ; their eloquence moved the senate ; 
born to command, their influence was extensive ; but who now rest 
in peace among the paupers, fed with the crumbs of their table. 
The very land which, for ages, was witness to the hospitality of its 
master, is itself doomed to sterility. The spot which drew the ad- 
jacent country, is neglected by all ; is often in a wretched state of 
cultivation, sets for a trifle ; the glory is departed ; it demands a 
tear from a traveller, and the winds seem to sia;h over it. 



218 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

THE MOATS. 
In the parish of King's Norton, four miles south west of Birming- 
ham, is The Moats, upon which long resided the ancient family of 
Field. The numerous buildings, which almost formed a village, 
are totally erased, and barley grows where beer w^as drank. 

BLACK GREYES. 

Eight miles south west of Birmingham, in the same parish, near 
YV^ithod Chapel, is Black Greves (Black Groves) another seat of the 
Fields ; which, though a family of opulence, were so far from being 
lords of the manor, that they were in vassalage to them. 

The whole of that extensive parish is in the crown, which holds 
the detestable badge of ancient slavery over every tenant, of de- 
manding, tinder the name of herriot, the best moveable he dies 
possessed of. — Thus death and the bailiff make their inroads to- 
gether ; they rob the family in a double capacit}-, each taking the 
best moveable. 

As the human body descends into the regions of sickness much 
sooner than it can return into health, so a family can decline into 
poverty by hastier steps than rise into affluence. One generation of 
extravagance puts a period to many of greatness. A branch of the 
Fields, in 1777, finished their ancient grandeur by signing away the 
last estate of his family. — Thus he blotted out the name of his an- 
cestors by writing his own. 

ULYERLEY, ok CULYERLEY. 

Four miles from Birmingham, upon the Warwick road, entering 
the parish of Solihull, in Castle-lane, is Ulverley, in doom's-day Ul- 
verlei. Trifling as this place now seems, it must have been the 
Manor House of Solihull, under the Saxon heptarchy, but went to 
decay so long ago as the Conquest. 

The manor was the property of the Earls of Mercia, but whether 
their residence is uncertain. The traces of a moat yet remain, 
which are triangular, and encircle a wretched farm house of no 
note ; one of the angles of this moat is filled up, and become part 
of Castle-lane, which proves that Ulverley went into disuse when 



H ISTOR Y OF BIRMING HAM. 2 1 9 

Hogg's Moat was erected ; it also proves that the lane terminated 
here, which is about two hundred yards from the turnpike-road. 
The great width of the lane, from the road to Ulverley, and the 
singular narrowness from thence to Hogg's Moat, is another proof 
of its prior antiquity. 

If we pursue our journey half a mile farther along this lane, 
which by the way is scarcely passable, it will bring us to 

HOGG'S MOAT. 

At Oltenend (Old Town) originally Odingsell's Moat, now Hobb's 
Moat, the ancient Manor-house of Solihull, after it had changed its 
lords at the Conquest. The property, as before observed, of Ed- 
win Earl of Mercia, in the reign of Edward the Confessor. 

William the First granted the manor to a favourite lady, named 
Cristina, probably a handsome lass, of the same complexion as his 
mother ; thus we err when we say William gave all the land in the 
kingdom to his followers some little was given to those he followed. 

This lady, like many of her successors, having tired the arms of 
royalty, was conveyed into those of an humble favourite ; Ralph de 
Limesie married her, who became lord of the place, but despising 
Ulverley, erected this castle. The line of Limesie continued pro- 
prietors four descents : when, in the reign of King John, it became 
the property of Hugh de Odingsells, by marrying a co-heiress. The 
last of the Odingsells, in 1294, left four daughters, one of whom, 
with the lordship, fell into the hands of John de Clinton ; but it 
is probable the castle was not inhabited after the above date, there- 
fore would quickly fall to decay. 

The Moat is upon a much larger plan than Ulverley, takes in a 
compass of five acres, had two trenches ; the outer is nearly obliter- 
ated, but the inner is marked with the strongest lines we meet with. 
This trench is about twenty feet deep, and about thirty yards from 
the crown of one bank to the other. When Bugdale saw it about 
a hundred and sixty years ago, the centre, which is about two acres, 
where the castle stood, was covered with old oaks ; round this 
centre are now some thousands, the oldest of which is not more 
than a century ; so that the timber is changed since the days of 
Dugdale, but not the appearance of the land. The centre is bare 
b2 



220 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of timber and exhibits the marks of the plough. The late Benja- 
min Palmer, Esq. a few years ago, planted it with trees, which are 
in that dwindling state, that they are not likely to grow so tall as 
their master.* 

A place of such desolation, one would think, was a place of silence 
— just the reverse. When I saw it, February 23, 1783, the trees 
were tall, the winds high, and the roar tremendous. 

Exclusive of Ulverley and Hogg's Moat, there are many old 
foundations in Solihull, once the residence of gentry now extinct. 

YARDLEY. 
At Yardley Church, four miles east of Birmingham, is The Moat, 
now a pasture ; the trench still retains its water as a remembrance 
of its former use. This was anciently the property of the Alles- 
trees, lords of Witton ; but about forty years ago the building and 
the family expired together. 

KENT'S MOAT. 

One mile farther east is Kent's Moat, in which no noise is heard 
but the singing of birds, as if for joy that their enemy is fled, and 
they have regained their former habitation. 

This is situate on an eminence, like that of Park Hall, is capa. 
cious, has but one trench, supplied by its own springs ; and, like 
that, as complete as earth and water can make it. 

This was part of Coleshill, and vested in the crown before the 
Conquest, but soon after granted, with that, to Clinton, who gave 
it, with a daughter, to Verdon ; and he, with another, to Anselm 
de Scheldon, who kept it till the reign of Edward the Third ; it af- 



" He measured about six feet five inches, but was sing^ularly slioif in the 
lower parts; iiis step was not larger than a child's often years old. His carriagfe» 
by its extraordinary height, looked at a distance like a moving- steeple : he sat as 
high in a common chair, as a man of the middle size stands : he was as immode- 
rately heavy as he was tall, and as remarkable for good nature as either. As a 
man he shone by his bulk ; as a magistrate, in a dull but honest light— his de- 
cisions were intended to be just. He seemingly doz<d as he wa lived ; but if his 
ow n eyes were half shut, those of evfiy other person were open to ste liim. 



HISTORY OF BIBMINGHAM. 221 

terwards passed through several families, till the reign of Henry the 
Seventh, when it came into that of De Gray, Earl of Kent, whence 
the name, though perhaps the works were erected by Scheldon. 

Afterwards, with Coieshill, the property of Lord Digby; but the 
building has been so long gone, that tradition herself has lost it. 

SHELDON. 

One mile east is Sheldon Hall, which anciently bore the name of 
East Hall, in contradiction from Kent's Moat, which was West 
Hall. This, in 1379, was the property of Sir Hugh le Despenser, 
afterwards of the family of Devereaux, ancestor of the present 
Viscount Hereford, who resided here till about 1710. In 1751, it 
was purchased by John Taylor, Esq. 

The Moat, like others on an eminence, has but one trench, fed by 
the land springs ; is filled up in the front of the hall, as there is not 
much need of water protection. The house, which gives an idea of 
former gentility, seems the first erected on the spot ; is irregular, 
agreeable to the taste of the times, and must have been built many 
centuries. All the ancient furniture fled with its owners, except an 
hatchment in the hall, with sixteen coats of arms, specifying the 
families into which they married. 

KING'S HURST. 

Two furlongs east of Sheldon Hall, and one mile south of Castle 
Bromwich, is King's Hurst; which, though now a dwelling in 
tenancy, was once the capital of a large tract of land, consisting of 
its own manor, Coieshill and Sheldon ; the demesne of the crown, 
under Saxon kings, from whom we trace the name. 

The Conqueror, or his son William granted it to Mountfort, but 
whether for money, service, caprice, or favour, is uncertain ; for he 
who wears a crown acts as whimsically as he who does not. 

Mountfort came over with William, as a knight, and an officer of 
rank ; but, perhaps, did not immediately receive the grant, for the 
King would act again much like other people, give away their 
propertij^ he/ore he would give away his oivn. 



22a HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

If this unfortunate family were not the first grantees, they were 
lords, and probably residents of King's Hurst, long before their pos- 
session of Coleshillin 1332, and by a younger branch, long after the 
unhappy attainder of Sir Simon in 1497. 

Sir William Mountfort, in 1390, augmented the buildings, erected 
a chapel, and inclosed the manor. His grandson. Sir Edmund, in 
1447, paled in some of the land, and dignified it with the fashionable 
name of park. 

This prevailing humour of imparking was unknown to the SaXons, 
it crept in with the Norman ; some of the first we meet with are 
those at Nottingham, Wedgnock,and Woodstock — Nottingham, by 
W^illiam Peveral, illegitimate son of the Conqueror; Wedgnock, by 
Newburg, the first Norman Earl of Warwick ; and Woodstock, by 
Henry the First. So that the Duke of Marlborough perhaps may 
congratulate himself with possessing the oldest park in use. 
. The modern park is worth attention ; some are delightful in the 
extreme ; they are the beauties of creation, terrestrial paradises ; 
they are nature cautiously assisted, by invisible art. We envy the 
little being Avho presides over one — but why should we envy him ? 
the pleasure consists in seeing., and one man may see as well as 
another ; nay, the stranger holds a privilege beyond him ; for the 
jjroprietor, by often seeing, loses the beauties, while he who looks 
but seldom, sees with full effect. Besides, one is liable to be fretted 
by the mischievous hand of injury, which the stranger seldom sees; 
he looks for excellence, the owner for defect, and they both find. 

These proud inclosures, guarded by the growth within, first 
appeared under the dimension of one or two hundred acres ; but 
fashion, emulation, and the park, grew up together, till the last 
swelled into one or two thousand. 

If religions rise from the lowest ranks, the fashions generally 
descend from the higher, who are at once blamed and imitated by 
their inferiors. The highest orders of men lead up a fashion, the 
next class tread upon their heels, the third quickly follow, then the 
fourth, -fifth, &c. immediately figure after them. But as a man who 
had an inclination for a park, could not always spare a thousond 
acres, he must submit to less, for a park must be had ; thus Bond, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 123 

of Ward End, set up with thirty ; some with one half, tiU the very 
word became a burlesque upon the idea. The design was a display 
of lawns, hills, water, clumps, &.c. as if ordered by the voice of 
nature; and furnished with herds of deer. But some of our mo- 
dern parks contain none of these beauties, nor scarcely land enough 
to support a rabbit. 

I am possessed of one of these jokes of a park, something less 
than an acre ; — he that has none may think it a ^ood joke, and wish 
it his own ; he that has more would despise it ; that it never was 
larger, appears from its being surrounded by Sutton Cold field ; and 
that it has retained the name for ages, appears from the old timber 
upon it. 

The manor of King's Hurst was disposed of by the Mountforts 
about two hundred years ago, to the Digbys, where it remains. 

COLESHILL. 

One mile farther east, is Coleshill Hall, vested in the crown be- 
fore and after the Conquest ; purchased, perhaps, of William 
Rufus, by Geoffrey de Clinton, ancestor to the present Duke of 
Newcastle. In 1352, an heiress of the House of Clinton gave it, 
with herself, to Sir John de Mountfort, of the same family with 
Simon, the great Earl of Leicester, who fell, in 1265, at Evesham, 
in that remarkable contest with Henry the Third. 

With them it continued till 1497, when Sir Simon Mountfort, 
charged, but perhaps unjustly, with assisting Perkin Warbeck with 
thirty pounds, was brought to trial at Guildhall, condemned as a 
traitor, executed at Tyburn, his large fortune confiscated, and his 
family ruined. Some of his descendants I well know in Birming- 
ham, and thei/ are well known to poverty. 

In the reign of Henry the Seventh it was almost dangerous, par- 
ticularly for a rich man, even to think against a crafty and ava-- 
ricious monarch. What is singular, the man who accused Sir 
Simon at the bar, succeeded him in his estate. 

. Simon Digby pi-ocured a grant of the place, in whose line it still 
continues. The hall is inhabited, but has been left about forty years 
by the family ; was probably erected by the Mountforts, is exten' 



224 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

sive, and its antique aspect without, gives a venerable pleasure to 
the beholder, hke the half admitted light diffused within. Every 
spot of the park is delightful, except that in which the hall stands ; 
our ancestors built in the vallies, for the sake of water, their succes- 
sors on the hills, for the sake of air. 

DUDDESTON. 

Four furlongs north east of Birmingham is Duddcston (Dud's 
Town) from Dud, the Saxon proprietor. Lord of Dudley, who pro- 
bably had a seat here ; once a considerable Tillage, but long 
reduced to the manor-house, till Birmingham, swelling beyond its 
bounds, in 1764, verged upon this lordship. 

It afterwards descended to the Paganalls, the Sumeris, then to 
the Bottetourts, and was, in 1323, enjoyed by Joan Bottetourt, 
lady of Weoley Castle, a daughter of the house of Sumeri. 

Sir Thomas de Erdington held it of this lady, by a chief rent, 
•which was a pair of gilt spurs, or six-pence, at the option of the 
tenant. 

Erdington sold it, in 1327, to Thomas de Maidenhache, by 
whose daughter, Sibell, it came in marriage to Adam de Grym- 
sorwe whose posterity, in 1^63, conveyed it for £26 13s. 4d. now 
worth £20,000, to John atte Holt ; and his successors made it their 
residence till the erection of Aston Hall, in the reign of James I. 

It is now converted into beautiful gardens, as a public resort of 
pleasure, and dignified with the name of Vauxhall. The demo- 
lished fishponds, and the old foundations, which repel the spade, 
declare its former grandeur. 

In 1782 it quitted, by one of the most unaccountable assignments 
that ever resulted from human weakness, the ancient name of Holt, 
familiar during four hundred and nineteen years, for that of 
Legge. 

Could the ghost of Sir Lister re-visit his departed property, one 
might ask. What reception might you meet with, Sir Lister, 
among your venerable ancestors in the shades, for barring, unpro- 
voked, an infant heiress of £7000 a year, and giving it, unsolicited, 
-to a stranger ? Perhaps yon would experience repeated buffittings • 



HISTORY OF BIKMINGHAM. 225 

a sturdy figure, with iron aspect, would be apt to accost you — " I 
with nervous arm, and many a bended back, drew £40 from the 
Birmingham forge, with which, in 1330, I purchased the park and 
manor of Nechels, now worth four hundred times that sura, I 
planted that family which you have plucked up by the roots ; in 
the sweat of my brow, I laid a foundation for greatness ; many of 
my successors built on that foundation — but you, by starving your 
brother, Sir Charles, into compliance, wantonly cut off the entail, 
and gave away the estate, after passing through seventeen descents, 
merely to show you had a power to give it. We concluded here, 
that a son of his daughter, the last hope of the family, would change 
his own name to preserve ours, and not the estate change its pos- 
sessor." — *' I (another would be apt to say) with frugal hand, and 
lucrative employments under the Crown, added in 1363, the manor 
of Duddeston ; and, in 1367, that of Aston. But for what purpose 
did I add them ? To display the folly of a successor. — A dejected 
spectre would seem to step forward, whose face carried the wrinkles 
of eighty-four, and the shadow of tear; "I, in 1611, brought the 
title of baronet among us, first tarnished by you ; which if your own 
imbecility could not procure issue to support, you ought to have 
supported it by purchase. I also, in 1620, erected the mansion at 
Aston, then, and even now, the most superb in that neighbour- 
hood, fit to grace the leading title of nobility ; but you forbad my 
successors to enter. I joined, in 1647, to our vast fortune, the 
manor of Erdington. Thus the fabric we have been rearing for ages, 
you overthrew in one fatal moment." — The last angry spectre would 
appear in the bloom of life. " I left you an estate which you did 
not deserve; you had no more right to leave it from your successor 
than I to leave it from you ; one man may ruin the family of another 
but he seldom ruins his own. We blame him who wrongs his 
neighbour, but what does he deserve who wrongs himself? You 
have done both, for by cutting off the succession, your name will 
be lost. The ungenerous attorney, instead of making your absurd 
will, ought to have apprized you of our sentiments, which exactly 
coincide with those of the world, or how could the tale affect a 
sti'anger? Why did not some generous friend guide your crazy 



2-26 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

vessel, and save a sinking family ? Degenerate son, he who destroys 
the peace of another, should forfeit his own — we leave you to remorse 
may she quickly ^/;<^, and weep over you.''' 

SALTLEY. 

A mile east of Duddeston is Saltley Hall, which, with an exten- 
sive tract of ground, was, in the Saxon times, the freehold of a per- 
son whom we should now call Allen ; the same who was Lord of 
Birmingham. But at the Conquest, when justice was laid asleep, 
and property possessed by him who could seize it, this manor, with 
many others, fell into the hands of William Fitzausculf, Baron of 
Dudley Castle, who granted it in knight's service to Henry de 
Rokeby. 

A daughter of Rokeby carried it by marriage to Sir John Goband, 
whose descendants, in 1332, sold it to Walter de Clodshale ; an 
heiress of Clodshale, in 1426, brought it into the ancient family of 
Arden, and a daughter of this house to that of Adderley, where it 
now rests. 

The castle, I have reason to think, was erected by Rokeby, in 
which all the lords resided till the extinction of the Coldshales, It 
has gone to ruin about three hundred years, and the solitary plat- 
form seems to mourn its loss. 

WARD END. 

Three miles from Birmingham, in the same direction, is Ward 
End, anciently Little Bromwich ; a name derived from the plenty 
of broom, and is retained to this day by part of the precincts, 
Broomford (Bromford). 

This manor was claimed by that favourite of the Conqueror, 
Fitzausculf, and granted by him to a second-hand fovourite, who 
took its name. 

The old castle has decayed about a century, the works are nearly 
complete, cover about nine acres, and are the most capacious in 
this neighbourhood, those of Weley Castle excepted. The central 
area is now an orchard, and the water, which guarded the castle, 
guards the fruit. This is surrounded with three mounds and three 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 227 

trenches, one of them fifty yards over, which, having lost its master 
guards the fish. 

The place afterwards passed through several families, till the 
reign of Henry the Seventh. One of them bearing the name of 
Ward, changed the name to Ward End. 

In 1512, it was the property of John Bond, who, fond of his 
little hamlet, inclosed a park of thirty acres, stocked it with deer, 
and, in 1517, erected a chapel for the conveniency of his tenants, 
being two miles from the parish church of Aston. The skeleton 
of this chapel, in the form of a cross, the fashion of the times, is 
yet standing on the outward mound; its floor is the only religious 
one I have seen covered with horse-dung ; the pulpit is converted 
into a manger — it formerly furnished husks for the man, but now 
corn for the horse. Like the first Christian Church, it has expe- 
rienced a double use, a church and a stable ; but with this differ- 
ence, that in Bethlehem was a stable advanced into a church ; this, 
on the contrary, is reduced into a stable.* 

CASTLE BROMWICH, 

Simply Bromwich, because the soil is productive of broom. 

My subject often leads me back to the Conquest, an enterprize 
wild without parallel ; we are astonished at the undertaking, be- 
cause William was certainly a man of sense, and a politician. Ha- 
rold, his competitor, was a prince much superior in power, a con- 
summate general, and beloved by his people. The odds were so 
much against the invader, that out of one hundred such imprudent 
attempts, ninety-nine would miscarry ; all the excuse in his favour 
is, it succeeded. Many causes concurred in this success, such as 
his own ambition, aided by his valour ; the desperate fortune of 
his followers, very few of whom were men of property, for to the 
appearance of gentlemen they added the realities of want ; a situa- 
tion to which any change is thought preferable, but above all, 



* By the exertions of the family of Marshall, a new chapel con- 
nected with the establishment is being erected. 
e2 



228 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

chance. A man may dispute for religion, he may contend for 
liberty, he may run for his life, but he will jight for property. 

By the contest between William and Harold, the unhappy English 
lost all they had to lose ; and though this all centred in the Nor- 
mans, they did not acquire sufficient to content them. 

History does not inform us who was then the proprietor of 
Castle Bromwich, but that it belonged to the Mercian Earls scarcely 
admits a doubt ; as Edwin owned some adjoining manors, he pro- 
bably owned this. Fitzausculf was his fortunate successor, who 
procured many lordships in the neighbourhood of Birmingham; 
Castle Bromwich was one. He granted it to an inferior Norman, 
in military tenure, who, agreeable to the fashion of those times, 
took the surname of Bromwich. 

Henry de Castel was a subsequent proprietor. Dugdale sup- 
poses the village took its name from a castle, once on the premises,, 
and that the castle hill yet remains ; but this hill is too small even 
to admit a shelter for a Lilliputian, and is evidently an artificial 
trifle, designed for a monument. It might hold, for its ancient 
furniture, a turret, termed a castle — perhaps it held nothing in 
Dugdale's time ; the modern is a gladiator in the attitude of 
fighting, supported by a pedestal, containing the Bridgeman's 
arms. 

Castle, probably, was added by the family of that name, lords of 
the place, to distinguish it from Woody and Little Bromwich. — 
They bore for their arms three castles and a chevron. 

Lord Ferrers of Chartley, who was proprietor of Birmingham in 
the reign of Henry the Sixth, enjoyed it by marriage ; and his 
grand-daughter brought it, by the same channel, into the family of 
Devereux, Lords of Sheldon. Edward, about the latter end of 
Queen Elizabeth's reign, erected the present building, which is ca- 
pacious, is in a style between ancient and modern, and has a pleas- 
ing appearance. 

The Bridgeraan family acceded to possession by purchase, and 
made it their residence till about 1768. We should naturally en- 
quire, why Sir Harry quitted a place so delightfully situated ? Per- 
haps it is not excelled in this country, in the junction of three great 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 229 

roads, a desirable neighbourhood, the river Tame at its back, and 
within five miles of the plentiful market of Birmingham — but, alas, 
it has 110 park. 

The gentry seem to have resided in our vicinity, when there was 
the greatest inducement to leave it, imjmssahle roads ; they seem 
also to have quitted the country, now there is the greatest induce- 
ment to reside there — roads, which improve their estates, and may 
be travelled with pleasure. It may be objected, that " the build- 
ings become ancient." But there is no more disgrace in an old 
house, than in an old man ; they may both be dressed in character, 
and look well. A gentleman, by residing in the family seat, pays a 
compliment to his ancestors. 

PARK HALL. 

Six miles north east of Birmingham, and one from Castle Brom- 
wich chapel, is a spacious moat, with one trench, which, for many 
centuries, guarded Park Hall. This is another of those desolate 
islands, from which every creature is fled, and every sound, except 
that of the winds ; nay, even the very clouds seem to lament the 
desolation with tears. 

This was possessed by none but the Ardens, being part of their 
vast estate long before the Conquest, and five hundred years after. 
A delightful situation on the banks of the Tame ; to which we are 
led through a dirty road. 

We may consider this island the treasury into which forty-six 
lordships paid their tribute. The riches of the country were drawn 
to this centre, and commands were issued from it. The growth of 
these manors supplied that spot, which now grows for another. The 
lordships are in forty-six hands ; the country is in silence ; the 
island ploughed up, and the family distressed. — At the remembrance 
of their name, the smile quits the face of history ; she records their 
sad tale with a sigh ; while their arms are yet displayed in some of 
the old halls in the neighbourhood. 

BERWOOD. 
Crossing the river one mile farther east, is Berwood Hall, where 



230 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

the forsaken moat at this day guards nothing. This, with the 
manor to which it belongs, was also the property of the Ardens ; 
one of which, in the Reign of Henry the Second, granted it to the 
canons of Leicester ; who added a chapel, which went to decay four 
hundred years ago. After the grant, the Ardens seem to have be- 
come tenants to the canons for the land, once their own : we fre- 
quently observe a man pay rent for what he sells, but seldom for 
what he gives. 

At the Dissolution of Abbies, in 1537, Thomas Arden, the head 
of the family, purchased it of Henry the Eighth, for £272 lOs. 
uniting it again to his estate, after a separation of three hundred and 
fifty years, in whose posterity it continued till their fall. Thus, the 
father first purchased what the son gave away, and his offspring re- 
purchased again. The father lays a tax on his successor, or, climbs 
to heaven at the expence of the son. In one age it is meritorious to 
give to the church, in another, to take from her. 

ERDINGTON. 

Three miles north east of Birmingham, is Erdington Hall, 
which boasts a long antiquity. The manor was the property of the 
old Earls of Mercia ; Edwin possessed it at the Conquest, but lost it 
in favour of William Fitzausculf, who no doubt granted it in 
knight's service to his friend and relation of Norman race ; he 
erected the hall and the moat : took his residence in, and his name 
Erdington, from the place. His descendants seem to have resided 
here with great opulence near 400 years. 

Dugdale mentions a circumstance of Sir Thomas de Erdington, 
little noticed by our historians. He was a faithful adherent to King 
John, who conferred on him many valuable favours ; harrassed by 
the Pope on one side, and his angry Barons on the other, he pri- 
vately sent Sir Thomas to Murmeli, the powerful King of Africa, 
Morocco, and Spain, with ofiers to forsake the christian faith, turn 
Mahometan, deliver up his kingdom, and hold it of him in tribute, 
for his assistance against his enemies. But it does not appear the 
ambassador succeeded ; the Moorish Monarch did not chuse to 
unite his prosperous fortune with that of a random prince; he might 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 231 

also consider, the man who could destroy his nephew and his sove- 
reign, could not be an honour to any profession. 

The manor left the Erdington family in 1472, and during a course 
of 175 years, acknowledged for its owners, George Plantagenet, 
Duke of Clarence, Sir William Harcourt, Robert Wright, Sir 
Reginald Bray, Francis Englefield, Humphrey Dymock, Walter 
Earl, Sir Walter Devereux, and was, in 1647, purchased by Sir 
Thomas Holte, in whose family it continued till 1782, when Hene- 
age Legge, Esq. became possessor of the manor. 

As none of the Lords seem to have resided upon the premises 
since the departure of the Erdingtons, it must be expected they 
have gradually tended to decay. 

We may with some reason conclude, that as Erdington was the 
freehold of the Earls of Mercia, it was not the residence of its 
owners, therefore could not derive its name from them. That as 
the word Arden signifies a wood, the etymology of that populous 
village is, a town in the mood. That one of the first proprietors, 
after the Conquest, struck with the security oflfered by the river, 
erected the present fortifications, which cover three parts of the 
Hall, and the river itself the fourth. Hence it follows, that the 
neighbouring work, which we now call Bromford Forge, was a 
mill prior to the Conquest, because the stream is evidently turned 
out of its bed to feed it ; that the present Hall is the second on the 
premises, and was erected by the Erdingtons, with some later ad- 
ditions. 

PIPE. 

One mile north-east of Erdington is Pipe Hall ; which, with its 
manor, like the neighbouring land, became, at the Conquest, the 
property of Fitzausculf, and afterwards of his descendants, Pa- 
ganall, Sumeri, Bottetourt, and St. Leger. 

It was common at that fatal period, for one of these great barons, 
or rather great robbers, to procure a large quantity of land for 
himself ; some of them two or three hundred thousand acres — too 
much for one man to grasp. He therefore kept what he pleased for 
his private use, and granted the other in knight's service, reserving 
annually a rent. These rents were generally small, so as never to 



232 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

hurt the tenant ; however, the lord could order him to arms when- 
ever he pleased. 

A few of the grants were procured by the disinherited English, 
but chiefly by the officers of William's army, being more respected, 
and more proper to be trusted ; they were often relations or favour- 
ites of the great barons. The lord could not conveniently sell with- 
out the consent of the Crown, but he could let at what price he 
pleased. Time made this chief-rent permanent, and gave the tenant 
stability of title. 

The manor of Pipe, with some others, was granted to William 
Mansell, who resided in the hall, and executed some of the chief 
offices of the county. 

The last of the name, in the reign of Henry the Third, left a 
daughter, who married Henry de Harcourt; and his daughter 
married John de Pipe, who seems to have taken its name. 

Henry, his descendant, had many children, all of whom, with his 
lady, died of the plague, except a daughter, Margery. He after- 
wards married, in 1363, Matilda, the daughter of George de Cas- 
tell, of Castle Bromwich. 

Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, afterwards purchased 
it for £133. 6s. 8d. It came to the Crown by attainder, in the 
reign of Henry the Seventh ; then to Sir William Staunford, one 
of his judges, then to Edward Holte, in 1568, then to Sir Thomas 
Holte, by purchase, and afterwards to the family of Bagot. 

Though the hall is antique, its front is covered in the modern 
barbarous stile, by a clump of venerable trees ; which would be- 
come any situation but that in which they stand. It is now inha- 
bited by a gentleman of Birmingham, who has experienced the 
smiles of commerce. 

ASTON. 

Two miles north of Birmingham, is Aston (East Town) being 
east of Westbury (Wednesbury), it lies on a steep descent towards 
the river Tame. 

This place, like that of Erdington, belonged to the Earls of Mer- 
ciain the Saxon times. The lordship extends about a square mile, 



HISTOKY OF BlRiMINGIIAM. 233 

and that part which is now the park, I have reason to think, was 
then a common, and for ages after. 

One hundred yards north of the church, in a perfect swamp, 
stood the hall ; probably erected by Godmund, or his family ; the 
situation shows the extreme of bad taste — one would think he en- 
deavoured to lay his house under the water. The trenches are ob- 
literated by the floods, so as to render the place unobserved by the 
stranger; it is difficult to chuse a worse, except he had put his 
house under the earth. I believe there never was more than one 
house erected on the spot and that was one too much. 

The family of Erdington, about 1275, sold it to Thomas de 
Maidenhache, who did not seem to live upon friendly terms with 
his neighbour, William de Birmingham, for, in 1290, he brought 
an action against him for fishing in his water, called Moysich (dead- 
branch) leading into Tame, towards Scarford Bridge, (Shareford, 
dividing the shares or parts of the parish, Aston manor from Er- 
dington, now Sawford Bridge) which implies a degree of unkind- 
ness; because William could not amuse himself in his own manor 
of Birmingham, for he might as well have angled in one of his 
streets as in the river Rea. The two lords had, probably, four years 
before been on friendly terms, when they jointly lent their assis- 
tance to the hospital of St. Thomas, in Birmingham. 

Maidenhache left four daughters ; Sibel married Adam de Grym- 
sorwe, who took with her the manor of Aston ; a daughter of this 
House, in 1367, sold it to John atte Holte, of Birmingham, in 
whose family it continued 415 years, till 1782, when Heneage 
Legge, Esq. acceded to possession. 

This wretched bog was the habitation of all the lords, from God- 
mund to the Holtes, the Erdingtons excepted ; for Maud Grym- 
sorwe executing the conveyance at Aston, indicates that she re- 
sided there ; and Thomas Holte being possessed of Duddeston, 
proves that he did not; therefore I conclude, that the building, as 
it ought, went to decay soon after ; so that desolation has claimed 
the place for her own near four hundred years. This is corrobo- 
rated by some old timber trees, long since upon the spot where the 
buildins stood. 



234 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

The extensive parish of Aston takes in the two extremes of Bir- 
mingham, which supplies her with more christenings, weddings, 
and burials, than were, a few years ago, supplied by the whole 
parish of Birmingham. 

WITTON. 

Three miles north of Birmingham, and one from Aston, is Wit- 
ton (Wicton) from the bend of the river, according to Dugdale ; the 
property of a person at the Conquest, whose name was Staunchel. 
Fitzausculf seized it, and Staunchel, more fortunate than the chief 
of his countrymen, became his tenant, valued in the Conqueror's 
survey at 20s. per annum. 

In 1290, Witton was the property of William Dixley ; in 1340 
that of Richard de Pyrie, descendant of him, who, a hundred years 
before, held the contest. In 1426, Thomas East, of Hay Hall, in 
Yardley, was owner ; who sold it to John Bond, of Ward End, of 
whose descendants William Booth purchased it in 1620 ; an heiress 
of Booth brought it by marriage to Allestree, of Yardley, who en- 
joyed it in our days ; it was sold to John Wyrley, and is now pos- 
sessed by George Birch, Esq. of Hamstead. 

The house, left by its owners, is in that low, or rather boggy 
situation, suitable to the fashion of those times. I can discover no 
traces of a moat, though there is every conveniency for one : we 
are doubly hurt by seeing a house in a miserable hole, when joining 
an eligible spot. 

BLAKELEY. 

Five miles North-west of Birmingham, is Ulakeley Hall, the 
manor house of Oldbury. If we see a venerable edifice without a 
moat, we cannot from thence conclude it was never the residence of 
a gentleman, but wherever we find one, we may conclude it was. 

Anciently, this manor, with those of Smethwick and Harborne, 
belonged to the family of CornwaUis, whose habitation was Blake- 
ley Hall. The present building seems about 300 years old. 

The extinction of the male line, threw the property into the hands 
of two co-heirs ; one of whom married into the family of Grimshaw, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 235 

the other into that of Wright, who jointly held it. The family of 
Grimshaw failing, Wright became then, and is now, possessed of 
the whole. 

I am unacquainted with the principal characters who acted the 
farce of life on this island, but it has long been in the tenancy of a 
poor farmer, who, the proprietor assured me, was best able to stock 
the place with children. In 1769, the Birmingham Canal passing 
over the premises, robbed the trench of its water. 

♦ WEOLEY. 

Four miles west of Birmingham, in the parish of Northfield, are 
the small, but extensive ruins of Weoley Castle^ whose appendages 
command a tract of seventeen acres, situate in a park of eighteen 
hundred. 

These moats usually extend from half an acre to two acres, are 
generally square, and the trenches from eight yards over to twenty. 

This is large, the walls massy ; they form the allies of a garden, 
and the rooms the beds ; they display the remains of excellent 
workmanship. One may nearly guess at a man's consequence, even 
after a lapse of 500 years, by the ruins of his house. 

The steward told me, " they pulled down the walls as they 
wanted the stone." Unfeeling projectors; there is not so much to 
pull down. Does not time bring destruction fast enough without 
assistance ? The head which cannot contemplate, offers its hand to 
destroy. The insensible taste, unable itself to relish the dry fruits 
of antiquity, throws them away to prevent another. May the 
fingers smart which injure the venerable walls of Dudley, or of 
Kenilworth. Noble remains of ancient grandeur ! copious indexes, 
that point to former usage ! we survey them with awful pleasure. 
The mouldering walls, as if ashamed of their humble state, hide 
themselves under the ivy ; the generous ivy, as if conscious of the 
precious relics, cover them from the injuries of time. 

When land frequently undergoes a conveyance, necessity we sup- 
pose is the lot of the owner, but the lawyer fattens. To have and 
to hold are words of singular import ; they charm beyond music ; 
are the quintessence of language; the leading figure in rhetoric. But 
f2 



236 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

how would he fare if land was never conveyed ? He must starve upon 
quarrels. 

Instances may be given of land which knows no title, except those 
of conquest and descent ; Weoley Castle comes nearly under this 
description. To sign, seal, and deliver, were wholly unknown to 
our ancestors. 

When the proud Norman cut his way to the throne, his imperious 
followers seized the lands, kicked out the rightful possessors, and 
treated them with a dignity rather beneath that practised to a dog. 
This is the most summary title yet discovered. 

Northfield was the fee-simple of Alwold (Allwood) but, at the 
Conquest, Fitzausculf seized it, with a multitude of other manors : 
it does not appear that he granted it in knight's service to the in- 
jured Allwood, but kept it for his private use. Paganall married 
his heiress, and Suraeri married Paganell's, who, in the beginning 
of the 1 3th century, erected the castle. In 1 322 the line of Sumeri 
expired. 

Bottetourt, one of the needy squires, who, like Sancho Panza, 
attended William his master, in his mad, hwt fortunate enterprize, 
procured lands which enabled him to live in England, which was 
preferable to starving in Normandy. His descendant became, iu 
right of his wife, co-heir of the house of Sumeri, vested in Weoley 
Castle. He had, in 1307, sprung into peerage, and was one of our 
powerful Barons till 1385, when the male line dropt. The vast es- 
tate of Bottetourt was then divided among females ; Thomas Berkley 
married the eldest, and this ancient barony was, in 1761, revived in 
his descendant Norborne Berkley, the present Lord Bottetourt; 
Sir Hugh Burnel married another, and Sir John St. Leger a third. 

Weoley Castle was, for many years, the undivided estate of the 
three families ; but Edward Sutton, Lord Dudley, having married a 
daughter of Berkley, became possessed of that castle, which was 
erected by Sumeri, their common ancestor, about nine generations 
before. 

In 1551 , he sold it to William Jervoise, of London, mercer, whose 
descendant, Jervoise Clark Jervoise, Esq. now enjoys it. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 237 

Fond of ranging, I have travelled a circuit round Birmingham 
without being many miles from it. I wish to penetrate farther from 
the center, but my subject forbids. Having therefore finished 
my discourse, I shall, like my friends, the pulpitarians, many of 
whom, and of several denominations, are characters I revere, apply 
what has been said. 

We learn, that the land I have gone over, with the land I have 
not, changed its owners at the Conquest ; this shuts the door of in- 
quiry into pedigree, the old families chiefly became extinct, and few 
of the present can be traced higher. — Destruction then overspread 
the kingdom. 

SUTTON COLDFIELD. 

Though the topographical iiistorian, wlio resides upon the premi- 
ses, is most likely to be correct ; yet if he, with all his care, is apt 
to be mistaken, what can be expected from him who trots his horse 
over the scenes of antiquity ? 

I have visited for thirty years, some singular places in this neigh- 
bourhood, yet, without being master of their history ; thus a man 
may spend an age in conning his lesson, and never learn it. 

When the farmer observes uie on his territories, he eyes me as- 
kance; suspecting a design to purchase his farm, or take it out of his 
hands. I endeavour to remove his apprehensions, by approaching 
him ; and introduce a conversation tending to my pursuit, which 
he understands as well as if, like the sons of Jacob, I addressed him 
in Hebrew ; yet, notwithstanding his total ignorance of the matter, 
he has sometimes dropt an accidental word, which has thrown 
more light on the subject, than all my researches for a twelvemonth. 
If an honest farmer, in future, should see upon his premises a piump- 
ish figure, five feet six, with one-third of his hair on, a cane in his 
left hand, a glove upon each, and a Pomeranian dog at his heels, let 
him fear no evil ; his farm will not be additionally tithed, his sheep 
worried, nor his hedges broken — it is only a solitary animal, in quest 
of a Roman phantom. 

Upon the north west extremity of Sutton Coldfield, joining the 
Chester-road, is the Bowen Fool ; at the tail of which, one hun- 



23S HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

dred yards west of the road, on a small eminence, or swell of the 
earth, are the remains of a fortification, called Loaches BatiJcs ; 
but of what use or original is uncertain, no author having men- 
tioned it. 

Four hvmdred yards farther west, m the same flat, is a hill of 
some magnitude, deemed, by the curious, a tumulus — it is a com- 
mon thing for an historian to be lost, but not quite so common to 
acknowledge it. In attempting to visit this tumulus, I soon found 
myself in the centre of a morass ; and here my dear reader 
might have seen the historian set fast in a double sense, I was 
obliged, for that evening, February 16, 1783, to retreat, as the sun 
had just done before me. I made my approaches from another 
quarter, April 13, when the hill appeared the work of nature, upon 
too broad a base for a tumulus ; covering about three acres, 
perfectly round, rising gradually to the centre, which is about six- 
teen feet above the level, surrounded by a ditch, perhaps made for 
some private purpose by the owner. 

The Roman tumuli were of two sorts, the small for the reception 
of a general, or great man, as that at Cloudsley-bush, near the 
High Cross, the tomb of Claudius ; and the large, as at Seckington, 
near Tamworth, for the reception of the dead, after a battle ; they 
are both of the same shape, rather high than broad. That before 
us comes under the description of neither ; nor could the dead well 
be conveyed over the morass. 

The ground-plot, in the centre of the fort, at Loaches Banks, is 
about two acres, surrounded by three mounds, which are large, and 
three trenches, which are small , the whole forming a square of 
four acres. Each corner directs to a cardinal point, but perhaps 
not with design ; for the situation of the ground would invite the 
operator to chuse the present form. The north west joins to, and 
is secured by the pool. 

As the works are much in the Roman taste, I might, at first 
view, deem it the residence of an opulent lord of the manor; but 
the adjacent lands, carrying no marks of cultivation, destroys the 
argument ; it is also two large for the fashion ; besides all these 
manorial foundations have been in use since the Conquest^ therefore 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 239 

tradition assists the historian ; but here, tradition being lost, proves 
the place of greater antiquity. 

One might judge it of Danish extraction, but here again tradition 
will generally lend her assistance ; neither are the trenches wide 
enough for that people ; of themselves they are no security, whether 
full or empty ; for an active young fellow might easily skip from 
one bank to another. Nor can we view it as the work of some 
whimsical lord, to excite the wonder of the moderns ; it could 
never pay for the trouble. We must, therefore, travel back 
among the ancient Britons, for a solution, and here we shall travel 
over solid ground. 

It is, probably, the remains of a British camp, for near these pre- 
mises are Drude-heath (Druid's-heath) and Drude-fields, which we 
may reasonably suppose was the residence of a British priest ; the 
military would naturally shelter themselves under the wing of the 
church, and the priest with the protection of the military. The 
narrowness of the trenches is another proof of its being British; they 
exactly correspond with the style of that people. The name of the 
pool, Bowen, is of British derivation, which is a further proof that 
the work originated from the Britons. They did not place their 
security so much in the trenches, as in the mounds, which they 
baracaded with timber. This camp is secured on three sides by a 
morass, and is only approachable on the fourth, that from the Cold- 
field. The first mound on this weak side is twenty-four yards over, 
twice the size of any other ; which, allowing an ample security, is a 
farther evidence of its being British, and tradition being silent is 
another. 



240 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



DANES CAMP; 

DANES BANK, OR BURY FIELDS. 



About five miles south of Birmingham, and five furlongs off" Soli- 
hull Lodge, is a place called The Danes Camp. But although 
neither history nor tradition speak of this particular event, it pro- 
bably was raised in the ninth century. 

The situation is well chosen, upon an eminence, about nine acres, 
nearly triangular, is yet in tolerable perfection ; the ditch is about 
twenty feet wide ; the base of the bank about the same ; admits 
but of one entrance, and is capable of being secured by water. 
From the bottom of the ditch, to the top of the mound was, when 
made, about twenty feet ; and is a production of great labour. 

THE CAMP. 
I have already remarked, a spirit of bravery is part of the 
British character. The perpetual contests for power, among the 
Britons, the many roads formed by the Romans, to convey their 
military force, the prodigious number of camps, moats, and broken 
castles, left us by the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, our common an- 
cestors, indicate a martial temper. The names of those heroic 
sovereigns, Edward the Third, and Henry the Fifth, who brought 
their people to the fields of conquest, descend to posterity with 
the highest applause, though they brought their kingdom to the 
brink of ruin ; while those quiet princes, Henry the Seventh and 
James the First, who cultivated the arts of peace, are but little 
esteemed, though under their sceptre England experienced the 
greatest improvement. — The man who dare face an enemy, is the 
most likely to gain a friend. A nation versed in arms, stands the 
fairest chance to protect its property, and secure its peace : war 
itself mav be hurtful, tlie knowledge of it useful. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 241 

In Mitchly Park, three miles west of Birmingham, in the parish 
of Edgbaston, is the Camp; which might be ascribed to the Ro- 
mans, lying within two or three stones' cast of their Icknield-street, 
where it divides the counties of Warwick and Worcester, but is too 
extensive for that people, being about thirty acres ; I know none of 
their camps more than four, some much less ; it must, therefore, 
have been the work of those pilfering vermin the Danes, better ac- 
quainted with other people's property than their own ; who first 
swarmed on the shores, then over-ran the interior parts of the 
kingdom, and in two hundred years, devoured the whole. 

No part of this fortification is wholly obliterated, though in many 
places, it is nearly levelled by modern cultivation, that dreadful 
enemy to the antiquary. Pieces of armour are frequently ploughed 
up, particularly parts of the sword and the battle-axe, instruments 
much used by those destructive sons of the Raven. 

The platform is quadrangular, every side nearly four hundred 
yards ; the centre is about six acres, surrounded by three ditches, 
each about eight yards over, at unequal distances ; though upon a 
descent, it is amply furnished with water. An undertaking of such 
immense labour, could not have been designed for temporary use. 

The propriety of the spot, and the rage of the day for fortifica- 
tion, seem to have induced the Middlemores, lords of the place for 
many centuries, and celebrated for riches, but in the beginning of 
this work, for poverty, to erect a park and lodge ; nothing of either 
exist, but the names. 



242 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHx\M. 



MORTIMER'S BANK. 



The traveller who undertakes an extensive journey, cannot 
chuse his road, or his weather ; sometimes the prospect brightens, 
with a serene sky, a smooth path, and a smiling sun ; all within 
and without him is cheerful. Anon he is assailed by the tem- 
pests, stumbles over the ridges, is bemired in the hollows, the sun 
hides his face, and his own is sorrowful — this is the lot of the his- 
torian ; he has no choice of subject, merry or mournful, he must 
submit to the changes which offer, delighted with the prosperous 
tale, depressed with the gloomy. 

I am told that this work lias often drawn a smile from the reader 
— it has often drawn a sigh from me. A celebrated painter fell in 
love with the picture he drew — I have wept at mine: — such is the 
chapter of the Lords, and the Workhouse. We are not always 
proof against a melancholy or a tender sentiment. Having pur- 
sued our several stages, with various fortune, through fifty chapters, 
at the close of this last tragic scene, emotion and the journey cease 
together. 

Upon King's-wood, five miles from Birmingham, and two hun- 
dred yards east of the Alcester-road, runs a bank for near a mile 
in length, unless obliterated by the new enclosure ; for I saw it 
complete in 1775. This was raised by the famous Roger Mortimer, 
Earl of March, about 1324, to inclose a wood, from whence the 
place derives its name. Then the feeble monarch, Edward the 
Second, governed the kingdom ; the amorous Isabella, his wife, 
governed the king, and the gallant Mortimer governed the queen. 

The parishes of King's Norton, Solihull, and Yardley, uniting in 
this wood, and enjoying a right of commons, the inhabitants con- 
ceived themselves injured by the inclosure, assembled in a body, 
threw down the fence, and murdered the Earl's bailiff. Mortimer, 
in revenge, procured a special writ from the Court of Common Pleas, 
and caused the matter to be tried at Bromsgrove, where the affrighted 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 243 

inhabitants, overawed with power, durst not appear in their own 
vindication. The Earl, therefore, recovered a verdict, and the 
enormous sum of £300 damage. A sum nearly equal, at that 
time, to the fee-simple of the three parishes. 

The confusion of the times, and the poverty of the people, pro- 
tracted payment, till Mortimer, overpowered by his enemies, was 
seized as a criminal in Nottingham Castle; and, without being 
heard, executed at Tyburn in 1328, 

The distressed inhabitants of the three parishes humbly petitioned 
the Crown for a reduction of the fine ; when Edward the Third 
was pleased to remit about £260. 

We can assign no reason for this imprudent step of inclosing the 
wood, unless the Earl intended to procure a grant of the manor, 
then in the Crown, for his family. But what he could not accom- 
plish by finesse, was accomplished by fortune; for George the 
Third, King of Great Britain, is Lord of (he manor of King's 
Norton, and a descendant from the house of Mortimer, 



a2 



MODERN IMPROVEMENTS, &c. 



NEWS AND COMMERCIAL ROOM. 
Of this establishment, which was opened to the subscribers 
m 1825, and conveniently situated in Bennett's-Hill, it may 
with truth be asserted, that there is not a better conducted 
one in the kingdom; the arrangements are altogether excellent, 
and managed with a quiet regularity and satisfaction, as well as 
liberality, that produce an interesting feature to the place. All the 
principal English, Irish, and Scotch papers, as well as the French 
and other foreign and domestic journals, votes of the Houses of 
Parliament, army and navy lists, reviews, &c. are taken, filed, 
and bound into volumes ; indeed, from the great increase of these 
documents of reference, a great addition has been made to the 
original building. The interior is admirably suited to the purposes 
for which it was intended ; the light and heat are well distri- 
buted. The exterior of the building is plain and chaste. It is 
open from nine in the morning till nine in the evening ; on Sunday 
it is open from half past twelve till three o'clock only. 

GENERAL POST OFFICE. 
The Post Office entrance is in Bennett's Hill, from whence the 
mails are received and despatched, and letters delivered. The 
original building has been much enlarged and modernized ; and the 
comfort and convenience of the public has been consulted, by the 
erection of a piazzo covering, so very essential in a large town, 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 245 

where persons iiave to wait at all seasons. There are several Re- 
ceiving Houses, connected with the Post Office, in tJie different 
parts of the town. 

SOCIETY OF ARTS. 
This society, situate in New-street, was originally constructed 
for panoramic exhibitions, which did not succeed, and the building 
has improperly continued to be called the Panorama until a very 
iate period. A better taste prevailed, and after the rooms had 
been converted to the purposes of exhibiting, indiscriminately, 
paintings of an inferior class, and sales by auction, the building 
was purchased by a society of public-spirited gentlemen, who 
transposed it into an Academy of Arts, and the principal apartmerkt 
was devoted to the reception of a fine collection of the best speci- 
mens of ancient sculpture, appropriated to the use of young pupils, 
who were instructed upon the most liberal principles. Sir Robert 
Lavvley, during his residence abroad, contributed some fine casts 
to this collection. Since that period, and during the year 1828, it 
has been devoted to new and highly gratifying, and pleasing objects, 
in having its rooms thrown open for the reception of fine paintings 
by the old masters, to which the most distinguished gentlemen in 
■the county faave contributed. The building of the Society of 
Fine Arts has been considerably enlarged, and has undergone 
extensive improvements. The circular dome is on a very 
extensive scale; the interior is admirably constructed. The ex- 
terior is handsome and imposing, ornamented in front with four 
handsome Corinthian columns, that support a portico, overhanging 
the footway. The pediment and general feature resembles that of 
the News-room, in neatness and chasteness of design. 

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 
This institution, situate in Paradise-street, was established m 
1828, for the purpose of communicating medical and surgical infor- 
mation to professional pupils, by means of lectures, delivered by 
different physicians and surgeons. 



246 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTION. 
This institution is situate in Cannon-street, has an excellent 
Lecture Room, and, during the winter season, evening lectures on 
scientific subjects, are delivered once a week. It has also a Reading 
Room, provided with scientific periodicals and some of the principal 
London daily and provincial newspapers. Rooms are set apart for 
the laboratories, museum, experimental practice, &c. of the society. 
The institution originated with a few select scientific gentlemen of 
the town, who procured the necessary apparatus, and occasionally 
delivered lectures among themselves ; from the great utility of such 
objects, and the members increasing, they purchased the premises, 
which they fitted up in an appropriate manner, in the year 1812, 
and have continued to deliver lectures upon the most useful of the 
sciences, many of which have been connected with the various 
branches of manufacture in which Birmingham is so deeply 
interested. 

MECHANICS INSTITUTION. 
This institution was established in 1825, for the cheap instruc- 
tion of the members in the principles of the arts and different 
branches of science. Classes for teaching Writing, Arithmetic, 
the English, French, and Latin languages, Drawing, &c., have been 
formed. Lectures are delivered, on various subjects, every Thurs- 
day evening, by professional lecturers. There is also a Library of 
Reference and a Circulating Library, &:c. Donations of money, 
books, models, apparatus, &c. are received. The society use the Old 
Meeting School Rooms for their Classes and Library, on the even- 
ings of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and the 
Philosophical Rooms for their Lectures on Thursday evenings. 
Each member pays annually twelve shillings, or three shillings 
quarterly for his admission ticket (transferable only to the lectures) 
which renders him. eligible to all the advantages of the institution. 

SELF-SUPPORTING DISPENSARY. 
The object of this dispensary, which was established in 1828, 
is to supply the industrious of the labouring classes, who are not 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 247 

able to pay a surgeon for his services, with medical and surgical 
relief, for the payment of a trifling subscription. It also affords, 
by the contributions of the opulent and benevolent, relief to those 
who are unable to contribute any sum themselves. 

INFIRMARY FOR DISEASES OF THE EYE, 
The eye infirmary, supported by voluntary subscription, was 
established in 1824, and is situated in Cannon-street, where 
patients are received on Tuesdays and Saturdays at one o'clock. 

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM. 
This praiseworthy institution, originated from a lecture delivered 
at the Philosophical Society, by Dr. De Lys, in 1812, who, in 
developing the progress made by a little girl of eight years of age, 
that was deaf and dumb, so far interested his auditors, that they 
shortly after caused a public meeting to be convened. It took 
place on the 4th of December, in the above year. In 1813, it was 
patronized by the nobility and gentry of this and the surrounding 
counties, who gave the undertaking their liberal support. On the 
11th of January, 1814, the school was opened, on a delightful 
eminence at Edgbaston, upon the estate of Lord Calthorpe, who, 
having erected some buildings there, at the suggestion of Dr. E. 
Johnstone, granted a lease of them, including with the buildings a 
portion of land, upon advantageous terms. It is intended for forty 
pupils, nearly half that number was admitted the first year. In 
1833 there were thirty-four pupils in this Asylum, when ten were 
elected out of twelve candidates. Four shillings per week is the 
lowest charge for board, lodging, and instruction, the remaining 
expenses being paid by voluntary contributions, and annual sub- 
scriptions. Mr. Louis de Puget, head master to this institution, 
to which office he was appointed on his return from Dublin, 
where, through the kindness and liberality of the committee of 
the Deaf and Dumb Institution in that city, he received much 
valuable information. The Asylum is directed by eighteen rules 
and regulations, established at general meetings ; — the president is 
the Duke of Devonshire, and the vice-presidents are upwards of 



248 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

thirty of the nobility and gentry of this and otlier counties : among 
the patrons is a similar list of the nobility, as well as about half 
that number of patronesses, ladies of title and distinction. The 
committee consists of thirty persons of the town of Birmingham, 
of the first respectability among the professional medical cha- 
racters, bankers, merchants, &c. The annual subscriptions, which 
are from half a guinea and upwards, with collections made in the 
charity box from charity sermons, amusements, and the ladies' 
bazaars, considerably exceed five hundred pounds. 

INFANT SCHOOLS. 
The Birmingham Infant Central School, than which there cannot 
he a more laudable or useful undertaking, is for the instruction of 
children from two to three years of age. It not only lightens the 
burthen and care of the parent, in taking children of tender years, 
and giving them instruction, where the parent has not an opportu- 
nity of doing it at home ; but it rescues them from bad examples, 
and idle and vicious habits in the streets. In a manufacturing 
town like Birmingham, there could not be a more important or 
useful institution than one for preparing the young mind, through 
religious and moral instruction, for the active and industrious 
habits of life. It was established in 1825, and is situate in Ann- 
street. In addition to the small sum of two-pence per week, paid by 
the parents, it is aided and supported by the liberal subscriptions 
of the inhabitants of the town and its environs. There are also 
two others in the town on a smaller scale, besides one, recently 
established, called the Cherry-street Wesleyan Methodist Infant 
School, formed under the superintendence of Mr. Wilderspin, ihe 
originator of the Infant System. 

SAVINGS BANK. 
The Bank for Savings was estabhshed in 1827, is situate in Tem- 
ple-row, occupying a part of the chaste and elegant structure origi- 
nally erected for the Birmingham Institution. — Lord Calthorpe 
was appointed President, and Francis Lawley, Esq. M. P. and 
D. S. Dugdale, Es(]. M. P. were appointed Vice Presidents; and 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 249 

forty" of the, principal gentlemen of Birmingham and its vicinity 
render their services to this useful institution. Sums to a con- 
siderable amount in the whole have been deposited, and the insti- 
tution is in a prosperous state. The Bank is open from twelve to 
two o'clock on Mondays and Thursdays. 

SMITHFIELD. 
This excellent and commodious Market-place, occupying the site 
of the ancient Manor-house and Moat, was constructed at an ex- 
pence of £2,449, exclusive of the purchase of the land and premises 
which cost £3,223. It was opened on Whitsun fair Thursday, May 
29, 1817 ; and the cattle market previously held in Dale-end, the pig 
market, in New-street, the hay and straw market, in Ann-street, were 
removed to this place. The hay market is on the Tuesday, and 
the beast market on Thursday. At the west corner of the market, 
a weighing machine and office, for the purpose of weighing hay, cat- 
tle, &c. has been erected. The machine is a patent one, and acts 
somewhat upon the principle of the steelyard, accurately ascertain- 
ing a weight of from two pounds to nine tons and a half. There 
is also the Common Pound, and the keeper's house, adjoining the 
market-place. 

NELSON'S STATUE. 
In the centre of the space facing St. Martin's Church, and nearly 
on a line with the Nelson Hotel and New Market, stands the statue 
of our great naval hero Admiral Lord Nelson. It is well executed 
in bronze by Westmacott, and, with the pedestal, palisades, and 
lamps, cost £2,500, which was raised by voluntary subscription. 
It was opened to the public on the 25th of October, 1809. The 
attitude of the figure is expressive of that dignity and serenity 
with which the original was characterized, and the resemblance is, 
on the whole, admitted to be more than usually correct. The cir- 
cular pediment on which the statue stands, is ornamented with 
figures in alto-relievo, in a bold and masterly style, the limbs being 
so disposed, that, except great violence is used, they are not 
liable to be injured ; the relative proportions of tlie whole are 



250 HISTOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

admirable, and the general effect produced gives the utmost satis- 
faction. The hero is represented in a composed and dignified 
attitude, his left arm reclining upon an anchor, which is to the 
right of the statue, and is the grand symbol of the naval profes- 
sion ; and Victory, the constant attendant upon her favourite hero, 
embellishes the prow. To the left is disposed a sail, which being 
placed behind the statue, gives breadth to that view of the compo- 
sition. Above the ship is a fac simile of the flag-staff truck of 
L'Orient, which was fished up by Sir Samuel Hood, the day after 
the battle of the Nile, and presented by him to Lord Nelson, the 
same being deposited at Mitford, as a trophy of that ever memora- 
ble action. This group is surmounted upon a pedestal of statuary 
marble, a circular form having been selected as best suited to the 
situation. By a figurative prosopopeia, the town of Birmingham is 
made to personify that affectionate regard which caused the present 
testimony of gratitude and admiration to be raised. The town is 
represented in a dejected attitude, murally crowned, mourning her 
loss, being accompanied by groups of Genii, or children, in allusion 
to the rising generation, who offer consolation to her by producing 
the trident and the rudder. In front of the pedestal is the follow- 
ing inscription : — "This statue, in honour of Admiral Lord Nelson, 
was erected by the inhabitants of Birmingham, A.d. mdcccix." 
The whole is inclosed by iron palisades, in the form of boarding 
pikes, connected by a twisted cable. At each of the four corners is 
fixed a cannon, erect, from which rises a lamp-post, representing a 
cluster of pikes supporting a ship lantern. 

BEARDSWORTH'S REPOSITORY FOR HORSES AND 
CARRIAGES. 

At the bottom of Cheapside is the extensive horse and carriage 
repository of Mr. Beardsworth, which presents an extraordinary 
and attractive object, from this point of entrance to the extreme 
northern end, looking into the fields. In the centre of the build- 
ing are the saddlery and harness departments, the offices, station of 
the auctioneer, &c. a view of which is commanded by a portion of 
the handsome dwelling-house. From Balsall-street, a fine view 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 251 

of the whole appears in an oblique direction. This is the front 
(entrance. The neatness of the ride outside the walls of the builds 
ing, and the elegance and extent of the dwelling housp jn continua- 
tion of it is highly interesting. The interior even surpasses the 
exterior, for, on entering at the wester^n front, the great magnitude 
of the building, its high and airy appearance, the extreme order iii 
which it is kept, the display of carriages tier after tier in the galle- 
ries, which surround three fourths of the repository, renders thi^ 
establishment an object of admiration. It attracts the nobility 
and gentry of this and the surrounding counties, and is a credit 
to the town. A weekly sale of carriages and hordes takes place 
every Thursday, (the principal market day) in the centre of the 
bottom part of this building. The space of the whole building 
occupies about three hundred feet in length, by one hundred and 
eighty in width, with an almost uninterrupted heighth of forty feet. 
The galleries alone, which cover the stables, will hold about five 
hundred carriages, and such is the extent of the building as to 
demand upwards of three hundred windows and skylights. The 
sales are so attractive and extensive, as frequently to cause the 
principal inns to have their beds and establishments occupied by 
the nobility, gentry, and retinue from distant parts of the kingdom. 
It is said this building cost upwards of £20,000; it is, cer- 
tainly, well worth the notice of every traveller and stranger whq 
visits Birmingham. 

BIRMINGHAM GAS LIGHT COMPANY. 
This Company was incorporated by act of Parliament in 1819, 
for the purpose of supplying and lighting the town with gas. Their 
works and office are situate in Gas-street, Islington. 

BIRMINGHAM AND STAFFORCSHIRE GAS LIGHT 
COMPANY. 

An actof Parliament was obtained, in 1825, by this company, for 
more effectually lighting with gas the town of Birmingham and 
ather places in the counties of Warwick and Stafford. Their works 
n 2 



25^ HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

are sityate at Westbromwich, from whence pipes are laid to Bir- 
mingham, and their office in the Old Square. 

PUBLIC OFFICE AND PRISON. 

The Pubhc Office and Prison is a well constructed neat stone 
building, situated in Moor-street. It was erected at an expense of 
about £10,000, in the year 1806, but has since been considerably 
enlarged and undergone many improvements. At the back are 
apartments for the keeper, and also places of confinement for the 
prisoners. The magistrates and street commissioners transact 
business in suitable apartments, and generally attend on Mondays 
and Thui'sdays. The prison is spacious and commodious for its 
unfortunate inmates, and is divided by a lofty brick wall, which 
separates the males from the females. Each class of prisoners has 
distinct cells at night, and separate apartments during the day. 

GENERAL INSTITUTION FOR THE RELIEF OF 
PERSONS LABOURING UNDER BODILY DEFORMITY. 

This charitable institution was established in 1817, and is sup- 
ported by donations and annual subscriptions. The president is 
the Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth. Its object is to 
afford trusses in cases of rupture — to remedy, by proper instru- 
ments and attention, those cases of deformity which are capable of 
cure — and to relief those which are incurable. Since its com- 
mencement it has been productive of great advantages to the la- 
bouring classes of this large manufacturing district. Patients 
applying (on the recommendation of a subscriber) to Mr. Freer, 
surgeon to the Institution, 54, Newhall-street, at nine o'clock 
on Wednesday mornings, will receive that prompt medical and 
surgical attention which their cases require. 

MAGDALEN ASYLUM. 
This establishment is situated at Islington, and was opened in 
1828, for the purpose of affording a suitable asylum, and the 
means of religious instruction to unhappy females professing them- 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 253 

selves penitent ; and to restore them from a life of sin, to the 
paths of virtue and happiness. 

ASYLUM FOR THE INFANT POOR. 
This excellent and well-conducted charity, is pleasantly situated 
in Summer-lane, with gardens in front and rear of the building, 
and which has shaltered, at one period, upwards of 400 inmates. 
The Committee of Guardians and Overseers of this praiseworthy 
institution, from unremitting attention and zeal, have not only been 
enabled to purchase the premises and additional building and im- 
provements, but also about two acres of land; — a property alto- 
gether to the parish, worth about £6,000. This eligible institu- 
tion commenced, upon the above appropriate site in 1797. — The 
committee are chosen annually, and the greatest attention is paid 
to the accounts, state of the institution, and to the health of the 
children, and the produce of their labours in the manufacturing of 
pins, straw-plait, lace, &c. About 400 children are, on the average, 
fed, clothed, and educated ; about three-fourths of which are em- 
pioyed as described. 

THE FEMALE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
This society was established in 1802, for relieving indigent mar- 
ried women, when they are confined, or labouring under any infir- 
mity. Visitors are appointed to inquire into cases ; and prompt 
relief is aflforded where found necessary. There are several other 
Benevolent Societies in various parts of the town. 

THE LYING-IN CHARITY. 
It is situate at the Five-ways, and supported entirely by voluntary 
contributions ; its object is to supply poor married women, at their 
«wn homes, with child-bed linen on loan during confinement, and 
money for present relief. 

LANCASTERIAN SCHOOL. 
This school was established in 1809, for instructing, on the 
Lancasterian system, 400 boys of the labouring class in reading, 
writing, and arithmetic. It is stuate in Severn-street, and supported 



idi HIStOllY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

by annual subscriptions and donations, in addition to which the 
parents of each child pay one penny per \yeek. There is also a 
Female Lancasterian school in Park-street. 

NATIONAL OR MADRAS SCHOOL. 
This is a lofty and extensive brick building, with play-gtound, 
inclosed within a high wall, and sitiiate in Pinfold- street. It was 
established in 1813, on Dr. Bell's system, and is under the superin- 
tendence of a master and mistress. The ground-floor is used for the 
boys, and tlie room over for the girls. The parents of each child 
pay one penny per week. 

NEW TOWN HALL AND MUSICAL FESTIVAL. 
This magnificent structure, in its internal arrangement, exhibits 
a large saloon or hall, 140 feet in length, 65 feet wide, clear of thfe 
walls, and 65 feet high from floor to ceiling, with corridors of 
communication running along each side of it, on its own level, 
and stair cases leading to Upper corridors to give access to the 
galleries. The corridors are low, the two tiers being within the 
height of the basement externally. As the Hall is intended prin- 
cipally for musical entertainments, one end of it is occupied by 
a magnificent organ and surrounding orchestral arrangements, 
This organ is of enormous dimensions, and has cost £3000. The 
narrow galleries run along the sides of the Hall, and a large deep 
gallery occupies the other end ; rooms for the accommodation of 
the performers who may be employed, are formed at the upper 
end of the building and under the orchestra. The building is 
lengthened externally to 160 feet by the projection of the arcaded 
pavement in front of Paradise-street, over the causeway. The 
height of the basement above the causeway is 23 feet, the columns 
resting upon its lipper surface or platform are, with their entabla- 
ture, 45 feet, and the pediment forming the frontispiece, is 15 feet 
high, — making a total height of 83 feet from the causeway to the 
acroterium. There are eight columns in the front and thirteen 
on each side. The columnar ordinance employed is in imitatioh 
of the Roman foliated or Corinthian example of the temple of 



tllSTORY OF BIUMINGHAM. S55 

Jupiter Stator; the columns are fluted, and the entablature is 
greatly enriched, though not to the full and elaborate extent of 
the original. The structure is of brick, faced with Anglesea 
marble, of which latter material the columns and their accessories 
are composed. The organ, which is the work of Mr. Hill, is 
Considered, by competent judges, " on comparison with the great 
organs on the Continent^ at Dresden, Passau, Leipsic, Haarlem, 
and the more modern one a Rotterdam, either for beauty of appear- 
ance, exquisite mechanical contrivance, or for brilliancy, depth, 
and magnificence of tone," without its equal. Nothing can be 
more perfect than the adaptation of the Hall for the production of 
the richest musical effects on a scale of magnificence at present 
unattempted in this country. Unincumbered with interposing 
columns or walls, by which sound is intercepted and smothered, 
it surpasses, as a music hall, every other structure in the kingdom, 
and a comparison, highly advantageous to it, may fairly be shown 
in contrast with either York Minster or Westminster Abbey. 

In both places disappointing results were experienced at their 
Musical Festivals ; at York, on account of a large portion of 
sound ascending to the immense lanthern tower above the orchestra, 
or being dispersed in the tower of transepts ; while in the Abbey 
the long rows of massy columns shut out the view from the ma- 
jority of the auditors, and the vast disproportion in height be- 
tween the nave and the aisles, gave a different degree of revibration 
to the voices and instruments, so that to realise the entire effect 
of the orchestra was impossible. At the Westminster Festival, 
some effects peculiar to the performances in the Abbey, and differing 
perhaps from the expectation previously formed of it, are worthy 
of remark. The volume of sound, even when the power of the 
orchestra was exerted to the utmost, was far less than was antici- 
pated; the large space, the number of the audience, and the mate- 
rials of the fittings-up, carrying it off and absorbing it, so that it 
reached the ear seemingly with a force not greater than that of an 
ordinary concert of the first class. Another peculiarity also quitte 
unexpected, was that the voices of the solo singers appeared louder 



256 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

and more distinct than usual, and were so far from being over 
powered by the accompaniment, that the latter in several of the 
movements was too weak, and did not sufficiently support the 
voice. The effect of the orchestra varied materially with the 
situation in which the hearer was placed, and there are some in 
which it was scarcely audible when playing the softer passages. 
In general, but particularly on the floor of the cathedral, the cho- 
rus did not come out so distinctly as it ought. These evils are, 
perhaps, inevitable in a gothic structure appropriated to the per- 
formance of vocal and instrumental music. But such is the admi- 
rable construction and fine proportions of the Birmingham Hall, that 
the conveyance of sound is perfect and uninterrupted ; for with a 
sufficiency of vibration, there are no confusing echoes, and the slight- 
est note from the orchestra is heard at the extremity of the room. 
This was evidenced previous to the Festival by Mr. Moscheles placing 
himself at the extremity of the South Gallery, while the Cheva- 
lier Neukomm, by way of experiment, played an air on the piano- 
forte. Although the distance was 140 feet, Mr Moscheles declared 
he could hear the softest and most delicate note of the instrument 
with the same ease as if he himself was in the orchestra. At no 
part of the room, indeed, does there appear to be any spot in which 
the hearer can be disadvantageously placed, and from the absence 
of all internal projections, the sight in every position is altogether 
unobstructed. 

Whoever was the first to introduce this mode of inducing the 
rich, the young, and the gay — the lover of music, and the lover of 
pleasure — the admirers of beauty and fashion, crowded assemblies, 
bustle, and display — in short, all classse of persons, young and 
old, on whom fortune has bestowed her gifts with a hand more or 
less liberal, to contribute towards the relief and support of their 
less favoured fellow-creatures, undoubtedly deserves well of society, 
since, in combining the holy cause of charity with innocent amuse, 
ment, he has done much towards alleviating the mass of human 
wretchedness. One former occasions the General Hospital has de- 
rived very considerable advantages from this periodical Festival. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 



257 



The following is a List of the receipts from the first Festival, 
in 1784, to the last, in 1834 :— 







General Receipts. 


Nett Produce. 






£ s. 


(1. 


£ s. d. 


Sept. 


1784 . 


1325 


. 


703 


Aug. 


1787 


1980 





, 964 




1790 


. 1965 18 





. 958 14 8 





1793 No 


Festival, the Theatre bei 


ng destroyed by Fire. 


Sept. 


1796 


. 2044 1 


. 


897 





1799 . 


. 2544 


6 


. 1470 





1802 


. 3820 17 


OM . 


. 2380 17 4 


Oct. 


1805 


. 4222 6 


4 


. 2302 17 11 





1808 


. 5511 12 


2>4 . 


. 3257 19 8 





1811 


. 6680 2 


9 . 


. 3629 10 





1814 


. 7124 12 





. 3111 15 2 





1817 


. 8746 6 


9 . 


. 4296 10 10 





1820 


. . 9483 4 


7 


. 5001 10 11 





1833 


. 10359 14 


0% . 


. 5806 12 6% 





1826 


. . 10104 2 11 . 


. 4592 3 11 





1839 


9771 4 


8 . 


. 3806 17 3 





1834 


. 13278 6 


2 





The gentlemen who had the direction of the entertainments of 
the Festival, spared no pains to secure the most eminent performers 
of the day ; Mr. Joseph Moore, in particular, had the almost 
exclusive management of this department, and Mr. Munden the 
difficult and laborious duty of superintending and instructing 
the chorus singers. 

PROGRESS OF THE FESTIVAL. 
The town presented, during the festival week, and in deed for 
some days previous to its commencement, a most bustling and 
animated appearance — bustling, however, in the pursuit of plea- 
sure ; carriages of all sorts and sizes, and equipages of the most 
brilliant description, rolled along in almost endless succession ; 
the principal streets were daily crowded to an extent never before 
witnessed, by throngs of curious pedestrians anxiously inspecting 
the attractions exhibited in the shop windows, especially those of 
the purveyors for the heroes and heroines of the Fancy Ball, where 
the costumes of all characters and nations were displayed in a pro- 
fusion calculated to delight the spectator. The general effect 



258 HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 

of the festivity was much heightened Ly tlie state of the weatherj 
the colds and damps of October being exchanged for the sunny skie^ 
and genial warmth of May or June. 

REMARKS. 

During the last few years great and rapid improvements have 
been made in and about the town. The entrances to some of the 
streets, which were very narrow and inconvenient, have been en- 
larged, and, by well paving them, and conveying the water away, 
by means of culverts, a great annoyance to foot passangers has been 
removed. The streets and shops are now generally lighted up with 
gas, and the manufacture and fitting up of the apparatus for this 
purpose gives employment to a great number of people in the town. 
The Water Works Company have laid down pipes in all the prin- 
cipal streets with smaller ones branching from them into the pre- 
mises of those inhabitants who require a larger supply of this indis- 
pensable element. The water plugs in the streets, in case of fire, will 
be found of singular utility and advantage by giving an instantaneous 
and abundant supply of water in any part of the town. 

The buildings in New-street, Bennett's-hill, Waterloo-street, 
Temple-row-west, &c., erected during the last four or five years, 
have a neat and elegant appearance. In all parts of the town, as 
well as the diiferent outlets, a vast number of new houses and streets 
are observable. In the environs are the delightful villa residences 
of the more opulent inhabitants and tradesmen, which, for a combi- 
nation of beauty, comfort, and convenience, perhaps, cannot be 
surpassed. 

Birmingham being entirely unshackled by restrictive charters, 
strangers commence and pursue their various avocations unmolested 
in this place ; hence its rapid expansion, and advancement in its 
manufactures. Metallic articles of every kind that can be devised* 
are manufactured here. A vast quantity of japanned goods, jewel- 
lery, toys, guns, swords, locks, and buttons of all kinds ; besides an 



* When Miltou's Comus was last performed in this town, the following; passage greatly 
amusi'd the master manufacturers :— " Such notes as warbled from the string, drew IROV 
tears down Pluto's cheeks." These were (they observed) the only things in iron, they 
had ever heard of, that could not he made in Birmingham. 



HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM. 259 

infinite variety of articles produced by the brass founders, steel toy 
makers, and platers. 

By the Reform Bill Birmingham is erected into a borough^ and 
the ten pound inhabitant householders now exercise the rights of 
the elective franchise in sending two members to represent them in 
the Commons House of Parliament. Thomas Attwood, and Joshua 
Scholefield, Esqrs., were the gentlemen, who first had the honour 
of representing in Parliament the inhabitants of this borough. 



rinted by Wrightson and Webb, New-street, Blrmlngha 



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